


Invisible String

by Slaymin



Series: The Folklore of Volleyball [2]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - America, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Based on a Taylor Swift Song, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Hospitals, M/M, Minor Azumane Asahi/Nishinoya Yuu, Minor Hinata Shouyou/Kageyama Tobio, Minor Iwaizumi Hajime/Oikawa Tooru, Minor Miya Atsumu/Sakusa Kiyoomi, Minor Shimizu Kiyoko/Tanaka Ryuunosuke, Soulmates, canon similarities, have I made myself cry over this while literally working?, this fic is going to hurt like a b, yes - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-13
Updated: 2021-03-12
Packaged: 2021-03-13 16:54:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 47,224
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29405133
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Slaymin/pseuds/Slaymin
Summary: Inspired by Taylor Swift's song Invisible String from her 2020 record, FolkloreA story about first meetings, falling in love, and everything that comes after: the good, the bad, and the lovely.Sugawara Koushi has been visiting his husband in the hospital for the past month after a life-threatening accident. But the thing is, Sawamura Daichi doesn't remember anything about Suga or the life they've shared for the past twenty years. Thus ensues Suga's journey to remind his husband of their love story from the very beginning: meeting in a dive bar in Los Angeles. But will his words reach him?Sequel/Side Story to "Seven" but can be read separately (highly recommend that you read "Seven" to get the full experience)This is a finished fic and will update every Friday so let's get it :) (Let's see if, during the course of posting this fic, things change lol)
Relationships: Sawamura Daichi/Sugawara Koushi
Series: The Folklore of Volleyball [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2188887
Comments: 10
Kudos: 8





	1. Time. Curious Time

**Author's Note:**

> In honor of Taylor releasing the first of re-recordings (Love Story omfg!), I have decided to start taking this fanfiction out of the recesses of my mind and my Google Drive lol. 
> 
> Also, this fic takes place in the same universe as my previous fic "Seven" and Kageyama and Shouyou will show up here as the homosexual supporting cast! So, if you're so inclined, go ahead check that fic out before they show up so you won't be too confused :)
> 
> I hope you enjoy this fic that has taken over literally almost every waking moment of my life.

The smell of antiseptic clings to the air. The sound of gurney wheels pounds on the linoleum floors. The constant ringing of pagers and announcements over the incessant PA. The squeak of nurse' shoes, running to their next patient. The ticking and tocking of the clock above his head, reminding him that time continues to surge onward. Even if every bone in his body urges it to stop. Just for a moment. For one, no, two seconds. 

Time, curious time, how it waits for no one. Especially those that need it to.

Koushi Sugawara looks up at the clock on the wall and stares at it menacingly, willing it to explode. Explode into a thousand tiny pieces of plastic or glass or whatever clocks are made of. Anything to make that horrific ticking noise stop. To take his mind away from the fact that mere feet down the corridor, in one of those identical hospital rooms, he’s probably sleeping. Or, more accurately, sedated. Suga lets his head fall into his lap so any of the tears that might fall out stay hidden from the other people in this, particularly cold waiting room.

He can’t let the tears fall right now though. He has to be strong for him. In the end, wasn’t this all his own fault? And once the nurse comes back and gives him the okay, he’s going to march into that room and put on one of his trademark smiles. And pretend, at least for as long as visiting hours are, that everything is alright and that every tear duct in his eyes isn’t about to explode in a deluge that no human could stop. 

He taps the side of his uncomfortable waiting room chair, with its stiff back and cushion that could have used a wash or three. He’s lost count of the minutes he’s been waiting here, waiting to see him again. Even if he had come to see him every day for the past month since it happened. He rubs the ring on his left ring finger and says a silent prayer to the god he had only become tentatively reacquainted with since that night. 

“Mr. Sugawara? You can see him now.”

Suga looks up, startled. He wipes away the beginnings of tears in his eyes so the nurse won’t see the extent of how hard he had been trying not to cry. Sure, he had always been an emotional person but this wasn’t anything like he was used to. He was used to stifling tears to sad movies or over the silly, little boys he had had crushes on in his youth. 

“Great,” Suga gets out as he sits up slowly from his chair. “How is he?”

“He’s doing better,” the nurse says as she leads him down the linoleum hallway. 

Suga tries to not stare into the open windows of the passing rooms where other people are busy dealing with their own lives. And tragedies.

“But the doctor did want me to remind you not to bring up the accident.” Her eyes trail down to Suga’s hands which he is rubbing together, nervously. His ring reflects some of the overhead fluorescent lights. “Or your history. We really don’t want a repeat of what happened last time.” The nurse meets Suga’s eyes and gulps quietly. “Although, none of us could have foreseen that reaction…” 

“I understand.” Suga lets out a sigh, trying to brush past  _ that _ , and steels himself for this visit. It’s only been a month, but every time he is about to cross the threshold from outside the room to inside, he feels a slight force trying to pull him away from it. Like if he doesn’t actually go in and see him, then he can pretend like none of it ever happened. Like everything is fine and nothing bad ever happens.

“I’ll knock three times to let you know when it’s time for his daily treatment, okay?”

Suga simply nods to the nurse’s statement. This isn’t the first time he’s heard it and, unfortunately, most likely won’t be the last. But he’ll have to get used to it eventually, even if he never wants to “get used” to any of this.

“Mr. Sawamura, you have a visitor,” the nurse says as she slowly opens the door.

“Oh great, anything’s better than having to watch these dumb soap ope- NO YOU IDIOT, IT WAS CLEARLY THE PHARMACIST WHO IS TRYING TO KILL YOU NOT YOUR WIFE! YOU ARE SO STUPID!”

Suga laughs into his palm as he hears the change in his voice. The sweet, calming voice he had fallen in love with that changes in an instant to that rough, commanding one. How he misses hearing those voices every day in his home. When he wakes up and when he eats breakfast and when he heads out for work and when he comes home and when he puts on those same shows and when he goes to sleep. Now he knows that he has to go into that room, to hear that voice. Even if it isn’t remotely the same.

“Page any one of us if you need anything,” the nurse gives Suga a kind nod and goes to her next patient.

“I remember you,” the man in the hospital bed says as he mutes the TV. He smiles with an open mouth smile that almost makes Suga buckle at his knees.

“You- You do?” Suga asks, dumbfounded. How could this be? Had all of his midnight prayers and thoughts of sacrificing lambs finally worked? Was he finally getting him back? 

“Of course, I do. You’re… Sugawara,” the man continues. “You’ve come by before, right?”

Suga lets out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding. And fights against his body to not let it all show right then. It would be unfair to break down right now, in front of him. He would hold it all in until he was safe in the apartment they once shared. 

“Yes, that’s me,” Suga says before sitting down on the nearest available chair. “How are you doing, Sawamura?”

“You don’t have to call me that,” Sawamura replies as he presses on the remote that controls his bed. “I never really went by my last name, not even in high school. Please,” he smiles at Suga again. “And, if I remember correctly, which I still might not be because, well…” He gestures to his bed and then to the whole room. “I’m pretty sure I told you that you can call me Daichi.”

Suga’s heart flutters in his chest. Daichi. The name that had been echoing in his head, in his throat, in his heart for so long. And until now, had been the name he called him every morning when the New York sunrise shone into their fourth-story apartment. The name that he would say, following those amazing three words that people search for their entire lives.

“Okay, Daichi,” Suga smiles down towards the ground. 

He wants to hug him, to kiss him, to say that name into his ear like he had done so many times before. But he can’t. He can’t have a repeat of what happened last time he lost his resolve. He can’t show his whole heart as he had done throughout his entire life. But even so, just being here in the same room with him, hearing his voice, and looking at his light tan skin and beautiful brown hair, is enough for him. At least for now.

“So, what brings you here to this cramped hospital room?” Daichi asks him.

“I came to see you, of course,” Suga replies, trying his hardest to keep his upbeat face on. The pain he feels trying to hide his true emotions is nothing compared to his need to be here with him.

Daichi laughs heartily, which fills Suga with the same warmth it always had. Oh, to always hear that laugh, to be able to bottle it up and listen to it when he needs some light in his life, is all Suga would need to get through these endless days.

“Okay, noted,” Daichi continues. “But, why me? I know you’ve come here before but like, I’ve been thinking-”

“Thinking always leads people into trouble,” Suga replies. “That’s why I try not to.”

“I find that hard to believe. I mean with all your gray hair, it looks like you think a lot.”

Suga puts his hand to his chest in fake astonishment. And with his other hand, he touches his aforementioned gray hair. Although he always likes to say that his hair is silver, metallic even, not gray.

“I’ll have you know that I’ve had this  _ silver _ hair since I was born,” Suga replies, fake offended. But hearing Daichi tease him like this, like everything might be okay for just a second, is more than Suga could have wished for. Realistically wished for, that is.

“Sure, sure,” Daichi replies, his hands up in defeat. “It’s cool looking anyway. Better than my boring brown hair. When I get out of here, I’m going to dye it.”

“Really? I like your hair like that. It’s dependable. No one looks at a teenager with dark brown hair and thinks, ‘Oh that kid shouldn’t have dyed his hair’ or ‘Pack it up, Benjamin Button.’ Especially when all his siblings have normal black hair.”

Daichi laughs again, trying his best to stifle it with his palm. But Suga wishes he wouldn’t.

“Then maybe I won’t,” Daichi responds. “Besides, according to my chart-”

“Wait, are you even supposed to see your chart?”

“I’m like forty-three or something so I really shouldn’t be dying my hair any weird colors or people might think I’m going through something.”

“You didn’t answer my question.” 

Suga isn’t completely sure of actual hospital policies outside of what he knows from those cheesy hospital dramas. Which isn’t much except that doctors really shouldn’t be allowed to be in the same on-call room with each other unless the hospital wants desks full of sexual harassment complaints. But what he is sure of is two things:

One: he never wants to truly know all the ins and outs of hospital policies because that would mean he had been spending too much time in them.

And two: He doesn’t want Daichi to go through what happened just last week when he learned too much, too quickly. That was a nightmare that would haunt Suga’s sleeping and waking thoughts. Most likely, forever.

“By chart, I mean like my basic info,” Daichi answers. “Like my age, my height, and why I’m in here.”

Suga doesn’t respond right away because he can’t seem to form the thoughts and words that he needs to. Maybe this is a bad idea. Maybe it hasn’t been long enough since that visit when everything went to hell.

“And of course, multiple broken bones which are healing nicely if I don’t say so myself,” Daichi motions to his legs that are still in their casts. “A partially punctured lung which is doing much better now,” Daichi places his hand on his chest where his left lung is. “Multiple lacerations to my head and skull,” Daichi lifts up the bangs that had grown over his forehead to reveal the remaining stitches. “And, worst of all-”

“Severe retrograde amnesia,” Suga says simultaneously with him. A shiver runs up his spine as he recounts all of those injuries. Injuries that he would always blame himself for. Injuries that should have been his. Not Daichi’s. But worst of all, that amnesia. 

“I may not be able to remember almost anything since like…” Daichi puts his hand to his chin and adopts that thinking face Suga is so accustomed to. “Undergrad. Go Miyagi Crows!” Daichi chants with his whole chest. He immediately catches his breath and winces in slight pain which sends shockwaves into Suga’s flight or fight response. “I’m okay, Sugawara, really. But losing my memories isn’t all that bad. Like even if I’ve seen some of these shows before, I don’t remember them so I can experience them for the first time.”

“I hardly think that that’s a fair trade for your memories and-” Suga says.

Sure, he and Daichi had off-handedly mentioned to each other that they would have loved to be able to forget certain shows or books so they could experience them all over again. But never once, did he ever imagine being able to do that. And at this cost.

“I know,” Daichi’s face drops slightly. And Suga curses himself for making Daichi sad, if even for a second. “But I have to look on the bright side of things, you know? I could sit around and mope about the years,” he takes a deep breath. “Basically twenty years I can’t remember. Or I can try to make the most out of this.”

“That’s-” Suga catches himself before he begins to tear up. This isn’t the time. “That’s a really good way to look at it, sorry.”

“Don’t be,” Daichi says, reaching his hand towards Suga. “It’s not like you put me in here.”

Suga gulps and his entire body tenses. But didn’t he? Wasn’t this all his fault? He can’t bring that up now though. Not again. All he can do is be here, and hope that modern medicine and time and all that can bring Daichi back to him. Even if he’s right here in front of him. 

“Besides, I still have hope I’ll remember things soon. Hopefully, before I can walk again because that would suck to be able to walk and go places and not remember where I lived before all of this, you know?”

“Yeah, I can imagine…”

“Well, enough about me. I spend all my hours thinking about me and this stupid show.” 

Daichi looks up at the TV where the characters have gotten themselves into their next unrealistic and dramatic situation. Suga looks up at the TV and can distinctly remember watching this exact show and episode with Daichi at his side. And how, even though Suga had suggested they start watching it against Daichi’s protests, it was Daichi that became way more invested.

“And by stupid, you mean amazing, can’t look away, like a train crash but with gorgeous people, show?” Suga asks.

“It’s like you read my mind. Are you psychic or something?”

“I’m just really good at reading people, I guess.”

“Well, either way. Did you want to talk about something? Because if I was you, I wouldn’t want to be stuck in a depressing hospital room when all of New York City is out there.”

What Daichi couldn’t know or, more aptly, remember is that Suga would trade all of New York City for him to get his memories back. To be able to walk again. To be with him outside of this room. But, if this room, in this midtown hospital is all that he can have with him, then it’s all he really needs.

“Well,” Suga starts. 

It’s not like he has concrete plans or ideas of what he wants to talk to Daichi about. He can’t bring up their past or anything they did together or people they know. And he doesn’t want to talk about the bar because it’s really just the same as it always has been. Except for the missing Daichi. 

“I mean-” He urges his mind to come up with anything. He needs a compass, a sign, a clue, anything to tell him what to say so he doesn’t just continue sitting here like an idiot.

“Oh!” Daichi exclaims before turning to his bedside table. He pulls out a small notebook that Suga doesn’t immediately recognize. “I just remembered that I wrote something down about you, Sugawara.”

“About me?”

“Yeah, let’s see,” Daichi says softly as he flips through the pages.

Suga leans forward to get a glimpse of what’s written. He can barely make out Daichi’s neat handwriting. The same handwriting he had gotten used to on the post-it notes Daichi would leave for him on the bathroom mirror whenever he had the swing shift at the station. And the same handwriting on the letters Daichi would send him whenever they were apart.

“Here it is,” Daichi says when he found what he was looking for. “‘Suga says he’ll tell me the story of… us?’ What’s that supposed to mean?” Daichi puts his hand to his forehead and groans. “I thought my memory was working for things I experience now, but-”

Suga tenses as he sees Daichi in pain. He had tried his best to not dredge up the past, to not mention things that might set this thing off. But apparently, Past Suga had different ideas. He has to do something to stop Daichi from this pain.

“Oh, I know what ‘us’ is referring to,” Suga says quickly, trying his best to think on the fly. He is going to need to call upon all of his strength and all the nights he’s spent with drunk bar patrons to get out of this predicament. “I was talking about ‘us’ in like a very, very metaphorical, disjointed way.”

“What?” Daichi asks with his hand still on his forehead but seeming to be in less pain. “Care to elaborate on that because that didn’t make much sense.”

“Sure, I mean like I’ve been reading this novel about these two guys,” Suga continues, pulling out all the stories and excuses and myth-weaving he can. “And like, because they’re two guys and one of them has gray hair and the other has dark brown hair. It reminded me of you and me.”

“Just because of their hair color?” Daichi removes his hand from his hair and gives Suga that raised eyebrow look that he knows all too well. The same look he had given him when they first met all those years ago.

“Well, yeah… I did say it was super metaphorical. The rest of the story is nothing like the two of us though. Just the hair.”

“Interesting…” Daichi nods his head slowly up and down. “Alright, let’s hear it then.”

“Hear what?” Suga asks, way more focused on the fact that he was able to spin it away from what he had really meant. 

“Are you even here?” Daichi laughs.“The story. About this gray-haired guy and dark brown-haired guy. I’m trashy soap opera’ed out and well, it would be cool to listen to someone talk to me about something other than my condition.”

“Oh, the story…” 

Suga can feel a mental bead of sweat grow at the back of his mind. He had made that tiny white lie up so quickly he hadn’t even thought about the consequences. Would he be able to come up with a completely fictional story about two guys, one with gray hair and one with dark brown hair without getting too close to their own lives? Maybe he should just leave and try again tomorrow. Maybe then Daichi might forget about this whole thing.

Or maybe. Just maybe.

“Okay, I’ll try to tell the story.”

“Or, I guess if it’s a novel, you can just bring it in next time you come,” Daichi says before writing something in his notebook. “And now, I won’t forget to ask you about it next time.”

That’s not good. Obviously, there isn’t a novel. There is only a fake story that Suga would need to concoct in the next ten seconds to not arouse suspicion from him. And remembering the Daichi he has known for so long, he would catch on pretty quickly if he doesn’t save it now.

“Oh, I’ll probably tell the story better and there were parts I didn’t really like so I can edit those out. You know like one of those old Greek scholars when they would retell epic poems.”

“Oh, so this novel you read is on par with ‘The Odyssey’ and ‘The Iliad’? It must be pretty good then.”

“I mean…” Suga rubs the back of his neck and laughs nervously. “It’s alright. Not like Winnie the Pooh status, but it’s good.”

“Winnie the Pooh?” Daichi laughs. “I would hardly count that as an epic poem but those stories are cute.” 

And that’s when Suga gets his brightest idea since going to that dive bar in Los Angeles over twenty years ago. Like the Greek scholars of old and even modern writers like A.A. Milne, he would just change names and dates and places. But in their stead, keep the story intact. Maybe then, he would be able to get all of it out in the open with Daichi. But in a way that doesn’t hurt him as it did before.

He balls his hand into a determined fist at his side and wills himself not to shake. He knows this might be dangerous. It might be reckless. Especially given what happened the last time he was here, that Daichi apparently doesn’t remember, thank God. But he can’t just give up. 

He has to try to remind him of all the years they spent together. The years they spent getting to know every part of each other. Of their hearts, their minds, their souls. The seconds, minutes, hours, days they spent by each other’s sides. Every smile, every tear, every sleepless but never lonely night.

“Alright, Daichi,” Suga stretches his hands out in front of him like he’s about to bust out the most moving piano concerto since Mozart himself. “Sit back, and listen to me weave the epic, amazing story of ‘us’.” Suga puts dramatically emphasized air quotes on the last word but wishes he didn’t need to. 

“And by ‘us’-”

“Yes, not ‘us’,” Suga points to Daichi and then to himself, although he knows this is another lie. “But rather,” Suga takes a momentary pause to think of the names he’s going to give them. Koushi, Kou… “Kousuke!” And Daichi, Dai, Dai-san… “Daisuke!” Those would have to work. “The gray-haired Kousuke and dark brown-haired Daisuke.”

“Ooo, Japanese guys,” Daichi says out loud. “I do enjoy like where I can relate to the characters on a racial level. Not that I don’t like my American dramas with only white people though.”

Suga chuckles, thankful that his last-minute names don’t seem to cause too much of a stir in Daichi’s mind. This could actually work as long as he’s careful. And even if it doesn’t end up curing Daichi and bringing the love of his life, his husband, back to him, at least he can spend the next few hours, and the new few days, telling their story.

The story that replays in his head every night before he goes to sleep. And every day when he wakes up, reaching for the man who isn’t there anymore. The story he wants to reach him in the furthest depths of his mind, where he had once been able to read like an open book.

Suga takes a deep breath, and with all his strength, begins.

“Kousuke was never the luckiest in love. He had been burned more times than he could count in his short twenty-three years. So when he walked into that same dive bar for the third time that week, he was in no way prepared to have his whole life turned upside down by someone he could only imagine had been brought there by an invisible string. A string tying the two of them together.”


	2. Right into That Dive Bar

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (The first chapter was more of a prologue so I wanted to post another heehee)

Suga looks down into the empty glass before him. And then to the two next to him. And the half-eaten plate of cheese fries that really didn’t hit the spot that night. But nothing is hitting the spot he needs it to. Not the vodka cranberries he had sworn to during his wild college days or the cheesy, formerly delicious potato fiasco he used to love sharing with him. Not even the pop song playing in the bar can get him out of this, whatever it is. 

Maybe it’s because he is alone at this bar for once. The one he had been fine coming to alone until he had introduced it to him and him and him. 

Or maybe it’s because he is still shaken by his, as of one month ago, ex-boyfriend., Oikawa Toru, who had once told him all his dreams of becoming an entrepreneur after failing at volleyball early on, and his insistence that he needed to find himself. And by "find himself", he really meant “find himself in the arms of that lecherous Iwaizumi.” 

“Another,” Suga says sternly as he slaps his glass on the bar counter. “And make it a double.”

“Sugawara,” the bartender says as she walks over to him. “I’ll make you another drink, but do you think you could slow down, just a little? And not try to break the glasses?”

“Who are you, my mommy?” Suga asks, mockingly. “Isn’t the customer always right or something?”

“Sometimes, the customer is so right that they’re wrong.”

“I may be slightly drunk,” Suga says, stifling in a hiccup. “But that made absolutely no sense.”

The bartender hides a small smile as she makes Suga’s drink. Suga can’t tell, because he’s not exactly paying attention, but she puts much more cranberry into the drink than vodka. But she also makes a note not to charge him for it, so that’s a plus.

“All I’m trying to say is,” she starts after sliding him his very watered-down vodka cranberry. “I’ve known you for, what, three years now? And I’ve seen you go through boy after boy after-”

“Okay, I get it, Michimiya,” Suga cuts her off before taking a large swig of his drink. “I’m a slut when it comes to tall, handsome Japanese boys. I get it.”

Michimiya laughs at that behind the palm of her hand. She grabs the rest of Suga’s empty glasses and begins washing them and starts again. “I don’t doubt you have a type and that type includes, let’s see…” She lifts up her hand, a sly smile on her face. “Akaashi Keiji-”

“Oh, that guy was cute wasn’t he,” Suga says, placing his cheek on his hand, and takes a deep breath. “Kinda hard to get anything emotionally out of but, omg in bed-”

“Suga, back to the real world, thanks.”

“Sorry, sorry,” Suga laughs lightly. “But in the end, he was still in love with his high school boyfriend… Bokuto, I think. That was rough.”

“Oh, I remember,” Michimiya replies. “Long Island iced teas and onion rings.”

“Please tell me that you don’t actually remember the drinks and food I had during my breakups…” Suga drops his head on the counter and lets out a large sigh. “That’s literally so pathetic.”

“It’s not pathetic,” Michimiya tries to comfort him. “I have a really good memory when it comes to this stuff. And you’re my friend.”

“Being friends with your bartender is kinda pathetic though, rig- ow!”

Michimiya interrupts him with a quick whip with her hand towel. “You’re better than this!” She places her hands on her waist and gives him a raised eyebrow. “Now who was the one who took the initiative and broke up with Akaashi, huh?”

“How is this supposed to make me feel better?” Suga asks dejectedly.

“Who was the one who realized he deserved better than an emotionally-cut-off boy who was still in love with his first love? Who was the one who picked himself back up off this very same counter and moved on?”

“After like three long island iced teas, two plates of onion rings, and some really bad uncalled for karaoke?” Suga adds, slightly disheartened but beginning to feel a little better for himself.

“It was more like five long island iced teas and ended up with me driving you home because the cabs wouldn’t take you.”

“I- I don’t remember that.”

“Of course you wouldn’t. But do you remember then pouncing on my roommate?”

“I did not  _ pounce _ on Atsumu Miya,” Suga clarifies. “If I remember correctly, it was a mutual pounce and only after I was sober... and completely hungover.”

“So were you sober when you then hit on and kissed his twin?”

“Oh my god,” Suga sighs again before finishing the last of his drink. “If we’re going to talk about  _ that _ , I’m going to need another drink. The Miyas were…”

“They were a lot to handle for you, I get it.”

“Atsumu Miya,” Suga sighs dreamily again. “Now that boy was something else. I mean his face, his hair, his mouth, his di- ow!”

Michimiya goes back to wiping the glasses again like she hadn’t just whacked Suga over the head. “But, you still picked yourself up off the ground when that hit the fan. Maybe next time, don’t try to get twins mixed up?”

“In my defense, they had the same hair color and style and Osamu was being  _ very  _ friendly with me. And then, of course, Atsumu walked in…”

“Oh, I know. Everyone who came into this bar for those three, long, excruciating days knows.”

“Once again, pathetic,” Suga cries out. “And where’s my- oh, thanks.” Suga reaches for the new drink she had made for him and takes a long sip.

“But enough about those boys,” Michimiya says before stopping her cleaning. She rests her elbows on the counter and looks into Suga’s eyes. “What happened this time? Because I’ve been here for those two and all the flings in between and this is different.”

“It is,” Suga says solemnly. “Oikawa Toru, who if I ever see again, I will pummel into the ground!” Suga slams his fist into the counter and immediately regrets it. The alcohol flowing through his blood isn’t enough to numb the physical pain or, really, the emotional pain either. It’s all so fresh still.

“Okay, Suga, you need to take a deep breath,” Michimiya says with her hands out in front of her, gesturing for Suga to take it down a few levels.

“Sorry Michimiya,” Suga apologizes, bowing his head. “Oikawa really wrecked me, I guess. I really thought he was the one, you know?”  
“I only met him the one time you brought him in, and, do you want my honest opinion?”

“I only want honesty now,” Suga says bluntly. “Maybe if Oikawa had been honest with me from the start, then we could have avoided all of this.”

“You’re really good at being cryptic and dramatic,” Michimiya giggles. “But Oikawa seemed more in love with himself than anything else.”

“That and the guy he told me ‘not to worry about’, Iwaizumi,” Suga adds. “I should have known he wasn’t as in love with me as I was with him. But, here we are.” Five vodka cranberries in, one, now finished, plate of cheese fries, and a handful of broken promises and empty words.

“Suga.”

Sugawara lets his tears fall into his glass as he grips tighter. Any tighter and he threatens to shatter it all in one squeeze. Not Akaashi. Not Astumu. Not even his equally attractive twin Osamu. It was Oikawa who broke his heart into a million pieces. How could he have wasted over a year in a relationship with someone like that? Who fed his head with those sweet nothings that had nothing to hold them? Who said he loved him and then turned around and said those same words to someone else?

“Michimiya, was it real, or was it all in my head?” He looks up at her, his eyes glossy from the tears.

“I can’t answer that for you, Suga. Although I wish I could.” She places her hand on his shoulder and gives him a pitying smile.

“I- I think I’m done with love,” Suga says again after swallowing back some more tears.

He’s not sure how much he believes in his own words. But maybe, just maybe, if he says it out loud, he can manifest it. He can be someone who doesn’t need to drown out his heart and tears with ethanol and carbs. He just knows that he doesn’t want to feel this way again. This helplessness. This intangible longing for someone he knows he hates but can’t get out of his head.

“Don’t say that, Suga,” Michimiya says, reaching out to pat his dropped head. “I’ve known you for years and through so much. And think of it this way, you’re just one broken heart closer to happily ever after.”

“You stole that from Wizards of Waverly Place and you know it,” Suga laughs out mirthlessly. “But thanks, Michimiya. I know I’ll be okay again, and I probably won’t give up on love entirely. Like, I’m only twenty-three but I just don’t know if I can do it again.”

“Do what again exactly?”  
  
“The whole meeting, awkward first date, even more, awkward first kiss, and everything after, knowing that eventually one of us is going to ruin it. Either I’m going to end up making out with his twin, or they’re going to realize they’re still hung up on their first love, or maybe I’ll find him playing naked Twister with someone when I was just going over to pick up the jacket I left.”

“You just have to have faith that the next boy, or the boy after that, isn’t a boy.”

“Like a girl?” Suga raises his eyebrows. “Because the last girl I ever liked that way was in preschool and we got married and everything.”

“No, I mean the next person you meet isn’t going to be a boy like the ones you’ve gone after. You’ll find a  _ man _ .”

“How cliche,” Suga laughs into his drink. “But I like the way you think. I just have to find myself a man. Maybe for just tonight.”

“That’s not what I-”

“They do say the best way to get over someone is to get under someone new,” Suga shushes her with his finger and downs the last of his drink. He wipes his mouth with a napkin and turns around to survey the rest of the bar. Most people have coupled up already. It is a random Thursday night, of course. But he is determined to find someone to take some of this pain away, if only for the night. 

A part of his sober mind knows that this won’t be helpful in the long-term. And that, come tomorrow, he will most likely find himself in a stranger’s bed that he barely remembers or passed out on his couch after awkwardly calling an uber from a stranger’s bathroom. His sober part of his mind wants to take his drunken mind and have it sit in the corner and think about what it’s done and what it’s about to do. But his drunken mind just wants one thing. And that one thing is going to be a pair of willing hands and a mouth that will help him for tonight.

And that pair of hands is attached to a tall, dark-brown haired man who has just walked into the bar, announced by the familiar chime of the bells. Suga knows this is the man he’s going to find himself under tonight. Sober mind be damned.

“His drink’s on me,” Suga winks to Michimiya who laughs awkwardly as she declines the brown-haired man’s card.

“I couldn’t possibly impose on you like that,” the man replies, holding his card against Suga’s.

“No, no, no, please let me,” Suga says again, a little more force in his voice. But like a desperate force. Like an “if I don’t do this, I might not make it to tomorrow” kind of force.

“Well, if you insist,” the man relents after a somewhat awkward amount of eye contact. 

“I do insist.”

Suga notices how deep his brown eyes are and just knows he wants to find some part of himself in them while being lost in the rest of him tonight. He would just need to play it cool here at the bar. This isn’t his first rodeo but he feels a certain pull from this man. More than any of the previous flings that he’s picked up at this very dive bar.

“I’m Sugawara Koushi, by the way,” Suga says as he extends his hand. A part of him is excited to feel this man’s skin on his, even if it will just be between their hands. At least for now. “But my friends, and good old, Michimiya here, call me Suga.” Michimiya rolls her eyes as she makes the man’s rum and coke.

“Nice to meet you, Suga,” the man says with a smile on his face. “I’m Sawamura Daichi, but you can call me Daichi.”

“Ooo, first name already,” Suga says coolly with his head rested on his hand. “I didn’t realize we’re already at that level.” 

Daichi laughs heartily, filling up the whole bar with a new sound that Suga wasn’t prepared for. A soft, warm sound and feeling that he was in no way expecting. 

“Don’t be too flattered,” Daichi says. “Everyone calls me Daichi even if it’s more common for Japanese people to go by their last names with strangers.”

“Well, I’m not a stranger anymore, am I?” Suga winks, leaning closer to Daichi. He wants to be able to examine every part of Daichi’s body, from his combed brown hair to his toned arms hiding beneath that long-sleeve shirt. 

“I guess not,” Daichi replies, nervously rubbing the back of his neck and laughing. 

Suga is sure he feels a slight hint of nervousness in that laugh. A nervousness that drills into his bones. Suga leans back into his own bar stool, keenly aware of how he might be coming off a bit strong now. This isn’t what he had wanted. He needs to cool down. Maybe this entire thing was a bad idea.

“Well, I hope you enjoy your drink,” Suga says to Daichi before beginning to sit up from the stool. “Michimiya, I’ll come by tomorrow to close out my tab.”

This Daichi, even though they haven’t had a whole conversation yet, seems so kind and earnest. Something that is hard to come by in a city as big as Los Angeles. And he doesn’t want to end up leaving him in the morning like he knows he will if they spend the night together like he was planning on. He’s going to go back home, take a hot shower, and just forget about all of this.

“Wait, you’re leaving already?”

Suga turns around, caught off guard by the question. But even more caught off by the fact that it wasn’t Michimiya who asked it. Instead, it was Daichi, with his earnest and warm brown eyes and soft yet firm voice. And a light closed-mouth smile that intoxicated him more than any vodka could. 

Who is this man?

“I mean, I was going to…” Suga replies sheepishly. He looks down towards his shoes, not wanting to meet Daichi’s eyes again. 

“Oh,” Daichi starts, a bit disheartened. “If that’s what you want. I mean, I was kinda looking forward to returning the favor and buying you a drink.”

“Wait, really?” Suga asks in disbelief, his jaw dropping without warning. “I mean,” Suga huffs out and self-consciously rubs the back of his head. “That’s cool, that’s cool.”

“You’re an interesting one, Suga,” Daichi says, gesturing to the stool next to him. If Suga sits there, which he totally will, he would be sitting next to Daichi. Not two stools away like he had been. And Suga’s heart skips a singular beat before his feet take him back to that seat.

“That’s a much better way to put dramatic, so thanks,” Suga chuckles before settling back into the familiar feeling of the barstool.

“I like dramatic,” Daichi smiles at him. “So, Suga, tell me. When did you realize you wanted to try to sleep with me tonight?”

“You can’t just leave it like that!” Daichi exclaims from his hospital bed, his hands balling up the sides of his blanket. “I mean, Daisuke jumped to that conclusion really quickly, didn’t he?”

Suga laughs into the back of his hand, trying not to meet Daichi’s eyes. If only he knew he was talking about himself, only a good twenty years before. Thinking back at that first meeting in that dive bar on the other side of the country is not what Suga had in mind for this visit. But now he can't think of any other way he would have liked to spend it. Although, being able to reminiscence about that time with Daichi fully understanding that it was about the two of them would have been nice.

“But was he wrong?” Suga asks. “Because Kousuke had been pretty adamant about sleeping with someone that night and had decided it would be Daisuke, even before they said a single word to each other.”

“I mean, yes, he was right,” Daichi continues, scrunching his eyebrows together. “But what if he had been wrong? Because that’s such a crazy thing to jump to, especially when you first meet someone. Like what would you say if I asked you if you wanted to sleep with me?”  
Suga’s eyes widen and he gulps loudly. He was not expecting that. Of course, if given that opportunity, he would love to sleep with his husband again. Even if it literally just meant sleeping side by side, or wrapped up in his strong arms again. He would've given anything to be with him again like that. And for all of this to be a horrible, glitch-in-the-matrix dream.

“Sorry, that was a weird question to ask,” Daichi says after Suga didn’t respond quickly enough. “I just mean, he just seemed so sure and confident with himself. Like what would have happened if he was wrong?”  
Suga blushes at that question. 

Because in the end, Daichi hadn’t been wrong back then. He had read twenty-three-year-old Suga, who was still reeling over his latest and greatest heartbreak, like a book. And it had worked so well. He can so easily remember how flushed his face became back then. How, for once, a boy, no, a man, had him at a loss for words. How, at that moment, he knew he didn’t just want Daichi to take away his pain and hurt for one night and then leave as quickly as he had gotten there. He wanted to at least stay until the morning and have breakfast and nurse his hangover, with him.

“Sure, he could have been wrong,” Suga finally answers Daichi. “And it would have been really awkward if he had been. But he wasn’t, and that was the main point. That Daich- Daisuke was able to read my - I mean - Kousuke so quickly and easily.”

“I see what you mean there,” Daichi responds, thinking again. “So when Daisuke asked Kousuke that question, he was really showing him that he knew him. Like not that he had already met him, but he knew what kind of person he was.”

“Exactly!” Suga exclaims, jumping up from his chair excitedly. “You got it!”

Daichi chuckles at Suga as he begins to lose balance from his very abrupt movement. And then his hands reach out to catch Suga as he loses his balance completely on his feet.

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry,” Suga quickly apologizes as he finds himself in Daichi’s arms again. Even though he had fallen on Daichi on complete accident, having Daichi hold him, even if for the briefest of moments, is so much more than he could have imagined. Feeling Daichi’s strong, familiar arms on him electrifies every hair on his body, just like they had the first night they met.

“You’re kind of a spazz, you know that?” Daichi says when Suga was able to recollect himself and sit back down on his chair.

“I’ve been called worse for worse, so thanks.”

“No problem,” Daichi looks away for a moment, away from Suga’s eyes. 

Suga isn’t completely sure, and easily convinces himself otherwise, but he thinks he can see a slight blush on Daichi’s face. Not as pronounced as some of the times he’s made Daichi blush in the past. But he wishes that he did blush because it would mean that Daichi’s love for him was greater than whatever this situation is.

“But maybe next time, give me some warning before you decide to fall for me.”

Suga’s quick-witted retort catches in his throat. “Fall for you?”

“Oh, did I say ‘fall for me’?” Daichi for sure blushes this time. “I meant, fall on me. I’m not as forward as Daisuke, you know.”

“Sure,” Suga says, drawing out every letter, tempting Daichi to respond with something witty. He makes a mental checkmark, noting this banter as just another thing he misses with him. “Anyway, back to my story.”

“Oh yeah, the story of how Daisuke basically pegged Kousuke as a player within five minutes of meeting him.”

“I wouldn’t call Kousuke a player,” Suga says, a little self-consciously. He had been called a lot of things, but a player was not one of them. A hopeless romantic. Desperate. Man-whore. But not a player. “If anything, he was just a bit hopeless in love and wanted to feel validated.”

“Although sex might not be the best for it, yeah?”

“No, you’re right. And I’m pretty sure he figured that out that night when Daisuke refused to sleep with him.”

“Wait, he did?”

“Do you want to keep asking questions, or do you want me to continue the story?”

Daichi huffs before crossing his arms and pouting. Suga can’t contain his childish smile and wishes he could take a picture of Daichi right then. Despite his tough, responsible exterior, he still has these little quirks that keep Suga guessing. And no accident, or memory loss, could take them away.

“So, what brings you here to the City of Angels, La La Land, Hollywood-Adjacent?”

Suga had been completely caught off guard by Daichi’s abrupt, but very astute, observation about his original intentions that night. And after a few blundered words, half-spoken apologies, and awkward chuckles, the two of them actually began to have a real conversation. And after an almost finished plate of boneless chicken wings and a half-finished well drink for each of them, Suga was ready to dive deep into this man’s mind before diving into his bed.

“That’s a lot of nicknames for one city,” Daichi laughs softly. “I think I like City of Angels the best though. Makes it seem more heavenly, yeah?”

“I wouldn’t call a city where you literally can’t honk your horn without the possibility of being shanked heavenly, but go off, I guess.”

“‘Go off?’” Daichi tilts his head in confusion at Suga. “I just got back from finishing undergrad in Japan so I’m not super hip with what you American youths are saying nowadays.”

“There was a lot to unpack there,” Suga starts before taking a large swig of his vodka cranberry. His last one for the night, he had promised himself and had told Michimiya to keep him accountable for. “And I promise we’ll circle back to all of that. But you dodged my first question.” Suga makes finger guns at Daichi and shoots them, left to right.

Daichi dodges each of Suga’s air bullets with ease and laughs again. “Oh, you’re right. Sorry about that, I have a tendency to trail off I guess.” Daichi wipes the remains of his last chicken-wing on his napkin. “I just got a job at a Fire Station nearby. I knew I always wanted to come back to America after graduating from college and this was the best offer.”

“Wait, you’re a firefighter?” Suga asks, willing his jaw not to drop like it totally wanted to. “That’s hot.”

“Because of fire and how fire is really hot?” Daichi smirks at him.

“That and the fact that firefighters are automatically ten times more attractive than normal people… Can I feel your arms? Because like firefighters have to be in amazing shape, right?”

“Sure, why not?” Daichi responds before reaching his arm out towards Suga.

Suga wraps his hand around Daichi’s bicep and squeezes. Daichi instinctively flexes it and Suga feels how hard and firm his muscles are. At that moment, not like he hadn’t thought it before, he wouldn’t have minded if Daichi picked him up and threw him on the nearest wall and rail- 

“I trained a lot for the exam,” Daichi says after Suga’s hands had been on his bicep for an appropriate amount of time. 

Suga sadly removes his hand and wills his nerves to remember how those muscles felt. So that even after they inevitably spent the night together, he would remember enough.

“But that’s pretty cool, Daichi. You’re like automatically ten times hotter, no one hundred times hotter than someone with a normal job. Especially more than a cop, anyway.”

“F the police!” Someone from the other side of the bar exclaims. Which is actually unrelated to Suga and Daichi’s conversation as “F the Police'' by N.W.A. is apparently playing on the stereo. But the timing, nonetheless, is impeccable.

Daichi shakes his head towards the table, hiding a small smile. “It’s funny you say that,” he starts before his expression softens and he looks at Suga. “I was thinking of becoming a police officer in Japan. Even took the test and everything.”

“Why didn’t you stay? Japan has some great things like the convenience stores, fancy toilets, and don’t get me started on the guys- I mean the history,” Suga laughs uncomfortably before looking away and grimacing. He needs to turn on his filter before he finally scares this man off.

“Would it be weird if I said I missed America, even if the police force here is totally corrupt and actually kind of horrible?” Daichi asks, looking a little self-conscious.

Suga can tell that Daichi doesn’t actually want to go into the details of why the police in America might not be comparable to those in Japan so he decides to just tuck that conversation away for later. And, of course, everyone knows ACAB.

“You missed this place?” Suga asks bewildered. “Why?”

Sure Suga had been born and raised in America, outside of Nashville, Tennessee specifically, which is about as American as you can get, but he wouldn’t have minded leaving for someplace else. His parent’s homeland of Japan being a top contender with its futuristic society and aforementioned toilets that are straight up from the year 3000 with their soft and hard flushes and built-in bidets. 

“Well, I ‘m originally from here,” Daichi answers before tapping the side of his glass. “Not here here like LA. This is actually my first time in LA. But I’m from Pennsylvania originally, Crow’s Landing to be exact.”

“The only thing I know about Pennsylvania is that Pittsburgh and Philadelphia are things and it’s not spelled like ‘pencil’ which is annoying,” Suga says without thinking again. But Daichi laughs at that so it couldn’t have been all bad, right?

“It took me a couple of years to not spell Pennsylvania without ‘pencil’ in it, I get it. But yeah, Crow’s Landing is a really small town west of Pittsburgh but it’s super quaint. And LA is a lot closer than Kurasuno City in Miyagi Prefecture for sure.”

Suga had only been to Japan once when he was in his junior year of high school for his paternal grandfather’s funeral and even then, they only spent time in the inner wards of Tokyo. So Miyagi and Kurasuno City are not a part of his lexicon of geographical facts. But he would sure act like these names are familiar to him because he doesn’t want to look like a fool. At least not until the morning when he can’t function because of his pounding head, rumbling stomach, and sore behind.

“Sounds cute,” Suga replies. “I bet your family is glad to have you back Stateside then?”

“That’s… complicated,” Daichi says before taking a sip of his drink. “But in the end, I’m only twenty-three and I wanted to experience what a place like LA has to offer before I settle down in a ten-mile radius town.”

“You say so many things I want to dissect,” Suga says, dropping his head into his hands. “But wow we’re the same age.”

“That’s what you decide to focus on?” Daichi laughs. “You could have fooled me with your gray hair.” He reaches and ruffles Suga’s hair.

“It’s silver,” Suga retorts before swiping away playfully at Daichi’s hand. “And if I hear you say I have gray hair again, I will set you like a volleyball into the stratosphere.”

Daichi raises his hands in surrender, not hiding his devilish smile from Suga. “Alright, you got me, you silver-haired kitsune.”

“We’re in America, you can say fox,” Suga winks at him before leaning back in his chair.

He thinks for a moment how only thirty minutes ago, he had told Michimiya he had been done with the first meetings and first conversations and first everythings. But now he’s here doing all of those with this man he had thought he would just hit it and quit it with. This is nice. It’s more than nice. It’s amazing.

“But if I call you a silver fox, that totally changes the meaning because you’re nowhere close to being a silver fox.”

“Hey, in like twenty years, I will totally be a silver fox. Just watch,” Suga points the half-eaten chicken wing that was still on his plate at him. 

“So you think we’ll still be in touch in twenty years?” Daichi asks, raising one of his eyebrows up questioningly. 

For a brief moment, Suga stumbles on that question. Wasn’t that kind of a weird thing to ask on their first date? Was this even a date? How could they even be completely sure they would see each other after tonight? Although Suga knows he wants to at least see Daichi tomorrow, he can’t be entirely sure he’ll see him the day after or the day after that. 

“Once again, a weird question,” Daichi says. “You don’t need to answer that.”

“Okay good, because I can barely plan out my days after work let alone twenty years in the future,” Suga breathes out, relieved. 

Crisis averted. Although if he actually did have to answer the question right now, he knows he would say yes. He doesn’t know why exactly, besides the fact that Daichi is gorgeous and doesn’t actually seem to be like a horrible guy who’ll break his ankles, keep him locked in his basement while he murders countless women.

“But enough about me,” Daichi starts up after the visible thinking of Suga’s face goes away. “You mentioned work but you never said what you do.”

Suga looks up and smiles. He’s used to having to bring up his life and interests on his own on dates, although he still can’t really call this a date because they had just happened to meet in the bar. But those dates with the handfuls of egotistical men who only cared about their next conquest, which was usually Suga because he just needed to get some some nights, never led anywhere. But this is much better. 

“Believe it or not, I’m actually an elementary school teacher,” Suga leans forward in his chair, prepared to field the questions he usually has to when this part of his life is brought up. Like how he can handle being in a room full of snot-nosed kids for more than eight hours a day. Or how he feels qualified to have the responsibility of molding the bright young minds of the future. Or how he doesn’t drop-kick almost every kid for one reason or another. Daichi would no doubt not be an exception to these.

“That’s really cool,” Daichi responds almost immediately. “Do you love it?”

“Do I love it?” Suga asks back, unsure of what had just come out of Daichi’s mouth. That was not what he was expecting to hear. And now his brain is racing to keep up with his own mouth. But would it be too slow? “I absolutely love my job. Like I know I can’t like biologically have kids of my own because I’m like super gay. At least like super gay in my personal life but not like in school because, although I would never want to tell a kid that being is gay is bad, but I just don’t think children, like the first-graders I teach should be concerned with what goes where and who tops who. So it’s really awesome coming into work and seeing all the kids playing with each other and having such a good time just being kids with their whole future ahead of them, you know?” 

Suga takes a short enough pause for Daichi to open his mouth to say something before he dives right back into his very one-sided conversation. “And I love knowing that I’m responsible for teaching kids some of the basic things that will be the foundation, for what is basically the rest of their lives. Like spelling simple words to reading complete sentences and using blocks for counting until they don’t need them anymore which is just the greatest feeling in the world. Like seeing a kid’s face light up when they do a math problem, although it’s like super simple like nine plus eight, without the blocks.” Suga lifts up in delight as he remembers that exact moment with one of his students this past year and the amazing high-five he gave him. 

“And then-” Suga looks over at Daichi, finally realizing he had completely gone off the rails with this. He hadn’t meant to go on like that about his students. He is usually so much better than this, at least when first meeting a guy he wants to get to know in a more than platonic way. And this kid talk, although he hadn’t outright said he wanted a kid, or maybe he had. But either way would drive any potential night partner away. 

“Oh God,” Suga starts, bowing his head slightly. “I totally didn’t mean to go off like that. I just got so excited I don’t know.”

“Hey,” Daichi slowly lifts Suga’s head up with his hand and looks into his eyes. “You have nothing to be sorry for. I actually really liked listening to you go on about how much you love your job and your students. It was really cute.”

“You think so?” Suga asks, squirming slightly in his seat as he becomes more aware of Daichi’s fingers under his chin. “Most guys think it’s annoying when I go on wild tangents like that, especially when it’s about my kids.”

“Well, I guess I’m not most guys… and that was super corny, wasn’t it?”

Suga tucks a strand of hair behind his ear and laughs lightly. “I happen to like corn.” 

“We’re hopeless,” Daichi laughs into his hands. “But yeah, I wouldn’t mind if you told me more about how much you like your job and where you went to school and everything you can think of.”

“You really want to hear about how when one of my first graders cries, I want to cry too because I’m the biggest sympathetic crier in the history of the world? And how I did my undergrad at UCLA where I partied way too much and studied way too little but somehow became a teacher?”

“Yes, I do,” Daichi leans in closer to Suga. “And about your favorite places to eat here in LA and favorite places to go when you need some fresh air and your favorite songs to listen to on the radio when you’re driving on the freeway. Stuff like that.”

Suga leans in closer to Daichi as well, feeling his magnetic pull and letting himself be taken with it. His dark brown eyes are staring into his and in that moment, he knows what this is. This electric feeling. This spark. It scares him because he knows he isn’t ready to fall so headfirst into something new so soon after that other boy, who shall now remain nameless, left him so destroyed. But he’s also so excited to feel this inescapable pull from someone who seems to care about him, at least more than other men do on their first meeting.

He knows what this is. Or maybe all the vodka cranberries swirling around in his body know what this is. 

And he can’t stop his mouth from running off again without his brain.

“I lo-”

“HE WHAT?!” Daichi exclaims from his hospital bed, gripping his pillow over his face. 

The sun had started to set which meant that visiting hours, at least today, would be over soon. But no matter how long the visiting hours may be, they’re never enough for Suga. Not when his husband, who he loves more than anything in the world, is right there in front of him and he can’t reach out to him or hold him like he wants to. 

Suga shakes his head, trying not to die from the second-hand embarrassment from the embarrassment that his twenty-three-year-old self had brought upon them. In that dive bar all those years ago. But looking back knowing what he knows now and all the years in between, he would do it all over again.

“Please tell me you’re joking,” Daichi says as he catches his breath. “Kousuke did not seriously tell Daisuke that he loved him after like two hours of knowing him. You have to be kidding.”

“Well, maybe if you didn’t interrupt me,” Suga says sternly. “You would find out what actually happened.”

“Well, he very clearly started to tell Daisuke that he loves him, like minutes after meeting him! That’s so crazy.”

“Well, maybe I should contin-” 

“I’m just so embarrassed for both of them?!” Daichi interrupts him. “I can’t believe how flustered I’m getting over these fictional characters though. Like I know they’re not real but they feel so real?”

Suga stifles in what is a mixture between a laugh and a sob as he knows he’s the only of them that knows that these two people are anything but fictional. And how silly this must all seem to an objective viewer. But it’s not like he can just tell Daichi everything about their lives with no filter. Not again. He would just have to hope that Daichi would come to that realization himself, eventually.

“I think we project ourselves onto fictional characters because of how they’re modeled after real people. You know how art imitates life and vice versa?” Suga asks.

“You sound so smart when you use words like ‘vice versa’,” Daichi says dreamily from his position, although Suga knows this tone. This half-mocking, half-flirting tone, he had grown so used to.

“Why thank you,” Suga bows exaggeratedly from his chair. “But for real though, these characters although they might not be real, they feel real and that’s all that matters right? And who are we to say what’s real really?”

“Really really,” Daichi responds. One. two. Both of them burst out laughing at what wasn’t a very good joke but was also extremely funny at the same time. “You make a lot of sense, Suga. Are you like a teacher or something like Kousuke?”

Suga gulps at this question. He isn’t sure how he wants to answer it right now. Does he tell him the truth? Does he lie to him? Although one sounds better than the other on paper, paper sometimes lies and one really doesn’t know what is going to happen until it does. It’s not like it’s an especially loaded question, in fact, it’s extremely innocuous. It’s just one’s profession, right? And it’s not like he’s ever been ashamed of it before. Especially because of everything that he and Daichi had gone through since that change.

“I’m actually-”

“I’m so sorry to interrupt.” Suga and Daichi both look over to the door to where the nurse from before is standing. “I wanted to let you know that visiting hours are going to be over in five minutes.”

“Thanks,” Suga tells her before the nurse scurries off like she had just walked in on two people doing something that Jesus wouldn’t approve of. “I guess that’s my cue, Daichi.” Suga stands up from his chair and begins to gather his things.

“Wait,” Daichi says as he extends his hand towards Suga. “Suga, when will you be back?”

Suga smiles at him, ecstatic that Daichi wants to see him again. Even if Daichi doesn’t remember that they’ve been married for over twenty years and that they’ve been through so much that they could write a book about their life together, he still wants to see him. He still cares for him enough to basically ask him to come back.

“I can come by tomorrow,” Suga replies, knowing that he wants to come by every day he possibly can until Daichi can finally come back home. “I can even bring something for us to eat or play or whatever.”

“Or you could, you know,” Daichi blushes a little before continuing. “You could actually finish your story because if I don’t find out what happened with Kousuke’s confession, I might actually die.”

Suga shakes off that last part of Daichi’s comment; it’s too close to home. “Oh, so you want to hear more about fictional characters than actually see me?” Suga places his hands on his waist, accusatorially. 

“That’s just a plus, I swear!” Daichi replies quickly before smiling giddily. The two of them chuckle before Suga begins to walk towards the door. “So you’ll come back?”  
“Of course, I will,” Suga looks back at Daichi, laying in his hospital bed. 

The gauze and bandages are still visible underneath the bottom of his shirt and around his collar. He pushes the images of that night out of his head and tries his hardest to stay in this moment. Daichi is alive. He’s able to talk to him and make jokes. And smile at him. Things could be worse. A lot worse. 

And Suga just has to believe that things will get better. For both of them. And that soon, Daichi will be back in their apartment. And the story he is going to tell him tomorrow, won’t just be a story to him. But their history.

“I am so sorry,” Suga says as he tries to keep himself from crying in Daichi’s face. 

Sure there is a lot of alcohol in his system, way more than in Daichi’s, that’s for sure. But straight-up burping in someone’s face when your faces are mere inches apart is still such an embarrassing blunder. Suga had never done anything like that before. But now that his mind is beginning to clear up from the shock, he is internally jumping for joy that he hadn’t been able to finish what he was about to say.

Of course, he could see himself falling in love with Daichi Sawamura. Much like he had fallen in love quickly with his other boyfriends, from the kind but emotionally distant Akaashi to the hotheaded and unfaithful Oikawa. But he wants to believe that this time it will be different. And saying “I love you” to basically a complete stranger after sharing a plate of chicken wings may be a little too different than what he needs.

“Like, I’ve never done anything like this before. Like that was just so embarrassing. I swear I’m not this gross and like I-”

Daichi closes the distance between them across the small bar table with his lips. Suga has never felt lips this soft and warm before, not from any of his other boyfriends or one-night-stands. The only thing he can do is lean in and deepen the kiss, hoping that this is Daichi’s way of telling him that his faux pas from before wouldn’t scare him away. Because he wants nothing more in this world than to continue to see Daichi Sawamura. 

Outside of this bar and not just in Daichi’s room. In the sunlight as they walk down Sunset and Vine, holding hands while they make up stories about tourists’ lives. In his favorite restaurants where they would fight over who pays the bill until one of them eventually concedes. In his car, as they blast that song where the blood is bad, but everything else is so good. In their lives together, as long as they can be. 

“You know, Suga,” Daichi says as he pulls away first. “I like you, but I think you talk too much sometimes.” 

He smirks at him and adds: “But, you know, I’m not sleeping with you tonight.”


	3. Gold Was the Color

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! 
> 
> This chapter was super fun to write because of all the gay fluff I was able to put in heehee (did I watch all of the Sailor Moon OG anime so I could make references to it? Yes. Yes I did.)

Suga walks into the hospital again for the third time this week. His messenger bag feels especially heavy on his shoulder today. Like a ball and chain. But he knows in his gut that today isn’t any different than the day before. Or the day before that. In fact, nothing seems to have changed between the first day he had started seeing Daichi regularly and now. Which is both a blessing and a curse.

Daichi may not have gotten any better on the memory front. In fact, it doesn’t seem like he’s anywhere closer to remembering Suga as more than a very friendly visitor and storyteller. And that distance is still such a vast canyon that keeps Suga up at night. Tossing and turning. Reaching out for the one person who isn’t there.

But on the other hand, Daichi hasn’t gotten any worse. No aberrant hospital jargon that Suga would never truly understand has been showing up. His doctor seems hopeful that at least his physical well-being is at a good level. And that if it weren’t for the nasty retrograde amnesia, Daichi could probably be released in the next few weeks. 

But that kind of hope does nothing for Suga. Not in a long shot. Sure, Daichi is finally out of his leg casts and there had been talk of him being able to use his wheelchair soon. But in the end, he is still trapped in this sickenly white and gray building. With tubes and medications and soapy drama reruns constantly playing. Rather than back in their apartment, watching those same soapy reruns. But together.

Suga walks past the nurse’s station, knowing full well that visitor hours had begun. He had those hours memorized like his childhood home phone and social security numbers. Although he would rather not have them taking up precious room in his mind. When he walks up to Daichi’s room, he notices the door is closed. Which is strange because Daichi always knew that this is the time that Suga would come by with contraband soy sauce for the bland hospital food. Which his doctor cannot and will never find out about or they would both be in hot water.

But why would the door be closed right now? Did Daichi have another visitor? The only family he had was one distant cousin who lives all that way in San Francisco and wasn’t able to make it out. And it couldn’t have been any of their mutual friends, because Suga had made it very clear that they weren’t to see him without Suga being there. At least since the unforeseeable relapse that is still so fresh in his mind. So who could it be?

Pushing these thoughts, and common decency, aside, Suga opens the door without knocking and walks in.

“Ahh! Suga, what are you doing here?!”

For just a moment, Suga is brought back to the time when he had walked into the unfaithful Oikawa’s apartment all those years ago. And saw that light-brown-haired incubus wrapped up in someone else’s arms. Oikawa had uttered almost those exact same words when Suga had dropped by during a break in his day. And his whole world had come crashing down around him. 

Those same emotions of betrayal and heartbreak and unmitigated fury begin to well up in Suga again. And if it is going to be just like it was back then, Daichi should count his blessings that there isn’t: a bookcase full of textbooks, a glass picture frame with a picture of the two of them at Six Flags together, or multiple pairs of running shoes at Suga’s disposal. He has always wondered if the bruises that he had given Oikawa back then are still visible.

Through his burning anger, Suga sees Daichi’s right leg bent back towards his stomach, a terrified expression on his face. And the back of a stranger on his hospital bed, pushing his leg that way. Suga can’t seem to comprehend this scene because all he sees is incandescent scarlet. Almost like his own brown eyes had turned that bloody red.

“What is going on here?” Suga asks, seething. 

In about two seconds, his rage would most likely take physical form. And his unlucky messenger bag would most likely be his weapon of choice. And if he was smart, he could even grab the soy sauce and attack this stranger with it. His doctor had only said that Daichi shouldn’t be ingesting all that sodium. Nothing about using it as a weapon against someone who seems so keen on taking advantage of an amnesiac, married man.

The unknown man lets go of Daichi’s leg and backs up off the bed. He wipes his hands on his scrubs and takes a squirt of the nearest hand sanitizer. That’s when Suga realizes that this man has a hospital ID badge and is… smiling?

“You must be Sugawara,” the man reaches out his right hand to Suga. “I’m Chikara Ennoshita, Daichi’s new physical therapist. You can call me Ennoshita, though.”

“New physical therapist…” Suga echoes back to him, trying to wrap these words into his comprehension. He absentmindedly shakes Ennoshita's outstretched hand, glad to feel his anger begin to fade. Just being replaced by confusion. “What happened to his old one?”

“Oh, he’s taking some time off for personal reasons so I’ll be taking over from here on out!” Ennoshita gives Suga a polite smile and turns back to Daichi. “I’ll come back after visitor hours, alright?”

Suga notices that Daichi isn’t making eye contact with him and instead is looking away, trying to hide what seems to be a blush. Suga narrows his eyes, trying to make sense of that face. Does Daichi think Ennoshita is cute? Sure, he has stereotypical black hair and looks like any old, dependable Japanese man. But Suga is much cuter, obviously. He would drill Daichi about this, and make it known, without actually saying anything, that Daichi is his. Through sickness and in health. And no “physical therapy” harpy would take him away.

“Sounds good, Ennoshita,” Daichi finally responds before sheepishly smiling towards Suga.

“Can I talk to you outside, Sugawara?” Ennoshita asks Suga before leading the two of them outside. Ennoshita closes the door and makes sure it’s fully closed before speaking up again. “I’m fully caught up on Daichi’s condition and first, I want to extend my utmost condolences. You’re very strong for coming here so often, given his…”

“Yes, his condition, where he doesn’t remember who I am at all,” Suga continues for him curtly. “His husband.” Suga raises his eyebrows at him. “Thank you, but I would really like to see him now if you don’t mind.”  
“Oh, of course. I just wanted to update you on his progress. Given what his previous PT told me and my own assessment, he’s doing very well. Physically that is.”

“That’s good to hear.” Suga stifles the smile that threatens to explode on his face. He’s sure that Daichi would never dare step out on him given his history. And even if Daichi doesn’t actually remember the very detailed plan Suga has for whenever someone betrays him, guttural fear like that doesn’t just go away.

“And I was hoping that during your visit today, you could actually get him out of the room,” Ennoshita continues, looking hopeful. “He’s not ready to walk just yet, but by wheelchair should be just fine.”

Suga can’t contain his smile any longer and lets it crack open on his mouth. “I can do that for sure.” He shakes Ennoshita’s hand once again and walks back into the room, ready to bust Daichi out of there. Even if it’s just to get him in a wheelchair and most likely to the cafeteria or something. Anything is better than that tiny hospital room.

“Hey, Suga…” Daichi says sheepishly from the hospital bed. He still won’t meet Suga’s eyes fully, instead electing to look to the left of him.

“So that sure was something, Daichi,” Suga half laughs out before sitting down on the chair next to the bed. “Ennoshita’s not half bad looking.”

“I mean he’s alright,” Daichi huffs out before looking over at Suga. “It’s just-”

“You won’t look at me?” Suga says, half-jokingly, half sadly. If Daichi can’t even look him in the eyes, does he actually think Ennoshita is cute? Is he actually starting to look at someone else like he looked at him the first night they met?

“I mean…” Daichi looks down and takes a deep breath. “That was just so embarrassing!” He collapses his head into his hands and lets out a sad barrage of weak laughs. “Like, I told Ennoshita that you would be coming soon like you always do and I didn’t want you to see me like  _ that _ .”

“Like what?”

“So vulnerable!” Daichi says louder than usual before backing down. “Like you only know me as I am right now, confined to this bed. And I didn’t want you to see me even weaker than that. Just… that was so awkward!”

Suga can’t help but want to laugh just a little at that. If only Daichi knew how much Suga’s seen of him. From the night they finally spent together, intimately, fully-sober. To the many days and nights in between when they were just becoming to know every inch of the other, physically and emotionally. All the way to that horrible night only a month before. But he knows that his laugh is the last thing Daichi needs to hear. Especially if Suga is going to whisk him out of this hospital room.

“Well, it’s not as bad as I thought it was,” Suga finally replies. “To be honest, I thought I had caught you doing something… that only happens in cheesy hospital dramas.”

“You- you-” Daichi almost flat-out cries at this point but elects to grab his nearest pillow and crush his face into it. “You thought me and Ennoshita were… oh my god - I would never!”

Suga breaks out laughing this time, reeling over. 

“What’s so funny?! That is so embarrassing! I can’t believe you would think I would do something like that when I really-” he stops mid-sentence and looks over at Suga who is busy wiping away laughter tears from his eyes. “Anyway, what did Ennoshita want to talk to you about?”

“Well, first off, I was ready to dropkick Ennoshita into next year for taking advantage of you. At least until I realized he was your new PT.”

“Wait, why would you care about that?” 

“Well, you said it yourself,” Suga says, hoping to keep his voice as neutral as it could be. “You’re ‘vulnerable’ and what kind of friend would I be if I let you get exploited?’” Suga lets out a smile which is met with a pillow thrown to the face. 

“Are you done?” Daichi asks, his arms crossed over his chest. 

“Well, what did you mean when you said you couldn’t believe I would think you would do something with Ennoshita?”

“I-” Daichi grumbles to himself and looks away. “Can we just drop it for now?”

Suga sighs slightly, remembering the not-so-fun parts of their relationship. When Suga would try to bring up something that Daichi might not want to discuss and he would do this same thing. Deflecting or straight out ignoring him. Even if it was something important. But none of that matters now. They could talk about that once Daichi could finally see him for who he is.

“Sure,” Suga replies. “And besides, we can talk about whatever you actually want to talk about when I take you out of here.”

“What?” Daichi tilts his head. “What do you mean? They didn’t say anything about releasing me.”

Suga laughs lightly before continuing. “I mean, I’m going to take you out of this room. Ennoshita said that I need to take you on a little wheelchair adventure.” He gives Daichi a comical thumbs up before smiling so hard he can barely keep his eyes open.

Daichi responds by laughing out loud for a good three seconds before catching his breath. “You are so hard to read sometimes, Suga.” He looks over at the door where a wheelchair now sits. “I mean I’d rather walk next to you, but being wheeled could be fun.”

“I bet we can challenge one of the other patients to a race down the hallway.” 

“As fun as potentially getting even more injured than I am right now sounds, I’d rather not.” The two of them meet eyes and laugh again. 

Suga wishes he could just bottle up Daichi’s laugh and listen to it always. Soon they will be walking out of this place together, side by side. And he would be able to hear his laugh, and the occasional snort, all the time.

“Point taken,” Suga replies, deflating his shoulders exaggeratedly. “Where do you want to go first?”

“I’ve always wanted to see what the view of New York would be from the rooftop,” Daichi offers. “And it would be cool hearing more of the Kousuke Daisuke story outside. I’m invested.”

“That sounds like a good plan, Daichi,” Suga says before getting up to grab the wheelchair. 

On the wheelchair is a note from none other than Ennoshita. It reads: “Please don’t race down the hallway with this. Also, have fun! (but not too much)” How did Ennnoshita know that Suga would suggest a hallway race? 

When Daichi struggles for a moment, Suga is right there to give him support. He wraps his arms around Daichi to stabilize him and blushes when he feels Daichi’s muscles underneath his thin hospital gown. He still has this feeling memorized after all this time and a part of him longs to just hold him forever. 

“Thanks, Suga,” Daichi says after Suga finally lets go of him and he orients himself on the chair. 

“Of course, Daichi,” Suga replies, still somewhat reeling from that tactile sensation. 

This is proving to be just as difficult as he originally thought it was going to be. But not being able to talk to and see Daichi would always be the more difficult and unthinkable choice. Suga wheels Daichi towards the door before remembering that it is still the middle of January so he grabs one of the coats that he had brought when Daichi had first been admitted. He would need it.

“Now where did I leave off with the story?” Suga asks as he wheels Daichi down the hall, still somewhat debating going as fast he can. Just for the fun of it. Daichi would laugh. Ennoshita and the nurses probably wouldn’t though.

“I think you said Kousuke and Daisuke were on their way to Nashville. And Kousuke was going to introduce Daisuke to his family for the first time.”

Suga shakes his head as he remembers that exact trip. How the two of them had been dating for just over a year and he was finally going to introduce Daichi to his otherwise, tempestuous and large family. And just how worried he was that something, anything was going to go wrong when Daichi Sawamura met all of his five older siblings, parents, and his obaasan. If this story doesn’t spark something in Daichi, Suga might actually lose faith that anything would. 

“Your family can’t be  _ that _ bad, Koushi.” Daichi places a reassuring hand on Suga’s shaking shoulder. “Look at me.” He places his finger under Suga’s chin and turns his face towards him. “Nothing that happens here could ever change how I feel about you.”

“You don’t know that,” Suga replies, averting his eyes from Daichi’s, instead electing to look down the escalator. How could Daichi be so sure that this trip is going to go off without a hitch? He doesn’t know his two older brothers and three older sisters or his parents or Nashville or anything about anything!

“Wanna know how I know?” Daichi asks, moving Suga’s head to look at him again. “Because I love you and any family that you come from, I’ll also have to love. It just makes sense.”

“That doesn’t actually make all that much sense. Besides, what if they don’t like you?”

“How could they not like me?” Daichi puts his hands on his waist in a superhero pose. “If you love me, that has to give me some points in their eyes, right?”

“You’d be surprised.”

He knows he’s being unreasonable. Daichi is just trying to calm him down. He’s being a good boyfriend. He’s being the man who kissed him while he was in the middle of saying something because he knew if he didn’t, Suga would have talked his way down into The Hundred Acre Woods of no return. Daichi is being the best person for him right now. But he just can’t shake the feeling that something is going to go wrong. There are just too many variables. Too many people that are going to be meeting for the first time. He mentally slaps himself and wishes he had introduced Daichi to his family slowly over time, not all at once like it will be as soon as they get off this escalator. 

“Well,” Daichi grabs Suga’s hand and squeezes it. “No matter what, we’ll get through this together. I’m just excited to see where you grew up and all that too.”

Suga smiles at Daichi, deciding to just think about all the places he’s going to bring Daichi to now that they are finally in Nashville. His stomping ground. “I can’t wait to show you my old high school and the coffee shop I used to go to when my siblings were being too loud and Centennial Pa-”

“SUGAWARA SENPAI!!!” 

Suga is interrupted by the familiar sound of his family nickname. At the bottom of the escalator, with a horribly tacky “Welcome Home, Senpai” sign, are his two older brothers, Koutaro and Koujiro.

“Senpai?” Daichi turns to him with a smirk on his face. “Can I call you senpai when we’re, you know?”

“Don’t you dare,” Suga snaps back.

“Now, you better not be thinking of doing anything inappropriate to our little brother.”

Daichi looks up, stunned, to see Suga’s twin older brothers right in front of them. He gulps. “Of course not!” He says before quickly bowing to the two of them. “I’m Daichi Sawamura but everyone calls me Daichi. I’m from Crow’s Landing, Pennsylvania but I went to college in Japan. I love your younger brother very much. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

Koutaro and Koujiro look over Daichi’s bowed body to Suga and raise their eyebrows just like Suga does. Suga drops his head slightly and shakes it.

“This is going to be fun,” his two older brothers say in unison.

And Suga knows it will be the exact opposite.

“Your sisters are so nice!” Daichi says as Suga leads him up the stairs.

“They’re testing you, so don’t let your guard down, okay?” Suga replies, keeping his hands on the staircase railing. Both to steady himself and to remember how it feels to be back in his childhood home. Back in his hometown with Daichi, his boyfriend. 

After the somewhat awkward introduction at the airport with Daichi’s very awkward bow, his two older brothers, Koutaro and Koujiro, or Taro and Jiro for short, drove them back to the suburb where they had grown up. During the ride, the two of them kept sending barrages of seemingly innocuous questions to Daichi. Like where he went to college (Miyagi University), what he does for a living (firefighter), and what his favorite food is (shoyu ramen). Followed, of course, by more probing questions like when he and Suga first sealed the deal which Suga immediately shot down. Repeatedly.

When they had made it to Suga’s childhood home, his entire family was outside waiting for the two of them. His mom and dad, his paternal grandmother, and his three sisters. All outside like they were posing for a stock photo or something. And as Suga groaned internally at how cheesy it all looked and how, behind all their picturesque smiles, they were hiding their true intentions of grilling Daichi so hard that he would be well-done by the end of this trip, he couldn’t help but look over at Daichi. And Daichi looked over at him, a goofy smile on his face. That’s when Suga, at least deep down, began to believe it might not actually be the end of the world. Daichi was a good guy. And his family would find out soon enough.

“They’re like venus fly traps. All sweet and inviting until- SNAP!” Suga claps his hands together in front of Daichi’s face. “You’re being devoured by them.”

“That was a very unique analogy,” Daichi replies, cupping Suga’s clasped hands in his.    
“But, I’ve always been pretty good at tests. I did get a 2020 on my SAT the first time I took it… although my college in Japan didn’t really care.”

“You just wait until my oldest sister, Kou, gets a hold of you. She made my last boyfriend cry.” 

“I’m sure I’m much better than Oikawa. I won’t cry.”

“You don’t know Kou.”

Suga laughs before opening the door to his old childhood bedroom. He takes a deep breath in as he surveys the room. It looks exactly the same as it did the last time he was home, over a year and a half ago. He knows this because he had brought Oikawa, that scumbag, here to meet his family back then. Needless to say, he hadn’t passed their tests but did Suga listen to them, or the many signs or clues? 

“Is this the room you grew up in?” Daichi asks, incredulously, his head slowly moving from side to side. 

“What gave it away?” Suga asks before walking towards one of the many shelves holding the many things he had collected and accumulated during his first eighteen years of life. “Was it this limited edition Sailor Moon action figure? Or was it this poster of Zac Efron from High School Musical? Or was it this-”  
“You’re cute,” Daichi says, scooping up Suga from behind. “And no wonder your family didn’t really make a big fuss about your being gay. This room just says it all.”

“You’re so annoying,” Suga says back harmlessly. “But yeah it was pretty cool that my family was so accepting about me being a British cigarette.”

“Now you’re the annoying one.” Daichi lets go of Suga and walks over to one of the other shelves. “It’s so cool being in a room that’s basically stayed the same since your childhood, though.”

Suga’s parents hadn’t changed his room at all since he first left for college in LA but that also meant they didn’t change his twin-sized bed. He isn’t entirely sure how he and Daichi are both going to fit on the bed together, given that they are decently sized men. Maybe he would try to find one of the air mattresses from one of the closets. Or maybe he would try to make it work. Being close to Daichi isn’t a problem after all.

“Well, when I take you to my small hometown of Crow’s Landing, you’ll be able to see all the baby photos I can find in storage.” He turns to smirk at Suga, holding one of his many stuffed animals in his hands. “It’s the least I can do after seeing your many,  _ many _ baby photos.”

Suga groans as he tries to forget about how when they had only just stepped into the house after a seemingly never-ending hugging marathon, his obaasan, bless her geriatric heart, decided it would be the best course of action to bring out ALL of Suga’s baby pictures. Basically from the moment of his actual birth from his mother’s vaginal canal all the way to his first day of kindergarten, his Winnie the Pooh backpack in hand. Daichi was incredibly interested in these pictures and oohed and aahed with the rest of Suga’s incorrigible family. Two of his older sisters, Koyumi and Nomimi (Yumi and Nomi for short), were the worst of all, threatening to whip out old high school yearbooks. Yearbooks that Suga had sworn he hid the last time he was in this house. His sophomore year of high school never happened. And if he could just burn that book once and for all, it could stay that way.

“Next trip,” Suga says as he lays back on his bed, grasping at the freshly laundered sheets. “It’s going to be Daichi baby photo and high school yearbook and embarrassing story central.”

“I’m sure I can scrounge up enough dirt for you,” Daichi replies before he sits down next to Suga. “But first, catch.”

Suga looks up as Daichi lobs a stuffed animal from his shelf at him. Suga grabs the Tigger plush and squeezes it, instantly remembering how it never seems to lose its fluffiness even after all these years. 

“You found Tigger!” Suga laughs as he buries his face into the orange and black striped tiger.

“I actually had an Eeyore growing up,” Daichi says as he sits down on the bed next to him. “I used to take him everywhere with me.” Daichi looks up to the ceiling and smiles. “I remember - well I remember what my parents told me - but I guess one time I left Eeyore at a Chinese restaurant when I was like two and I wouldn’t stop crying so my dad had to drive back and find him.”

“That’s really cute,” Suga says as he sits up. “When I was little, Winnie the Pooh was my favorite cartoon, book series, everything.” He grabs his Tigger and gives him another squeeze. 

“‘People say nothing is impossible, but I do nothing every day’,” Daichi recites before turning to Suga. “I always thought that was hilarious.”

“Thought? That IS hilarious. Winnie is a freaking comedian!” Suga gets up from the bed and places Tigger back on his shelf. His days of sleeping with stuffed animals at night had effectively ended once he and Daichi had begun dating. Tonight would be no exception. “I really like how we both were really into Winnie the Pooh when we were kids. It makes me feel like we shared something deep, even if we had no idea who the other was.”

“You’re so cheesy,” Daichi says as he rubs the back of his head and laughs. “But I feel the same way. It’s like I’m getting an in-depth look at you throughout your life.”

“If you really want to see something from Senpai’s life, you have to come downstairs to watch a home video that Obaasan just found.”

Suga and Daichi both look up to see Koushi’s second eldest sister, Yumi, at the door. 

“I’m one hundred percent there,” Daichi replies, going to get off the bed.

“It’s the cutest thing,” Yumi says as she walks into Suga’s room totally uninvited. But being the youngest, the baby of the family, Suga was rarely able to stop his older siblings from barging in. And of course, today would be no exception. She reaches for Suga’s Sailor Moon action figure and shows it to Daichi. “When Nomi and I would watch Sailor Moon as kids, baby Senpai here would pretend he was a Sailor with us. What was your name again?”

“Yumi,” Suga rolls his eyes, trying to save any face he might have left. But he soon begins to realize that would be a fool’s errand in a house full of people determined to embarrass him, forever. “I can’t say that I remember.”

“Sailor Sun!” A new voice from the doorway says. It’s Nomi, Suga’s third and final sister. “He wouldn’t stop begging Mom and Dad to buy us all matching Sailor outfits so we could transform and fight evil.”

Suga groans while Daichi can’t seem to stifle his laughter. “Please tell me your parents agreed!” Daichi turns to Suga who has turned into a bright red tomato. 

If anyone were to touch him, he would most likely erupt into a pile of ketchup. He doesn’t remember his family being this embarrassing the last time he brought home a boyfriend. If anything, they were just mean on that last trip. So why is it different now?

“Now what did Senpai always have us say before we fought evil?” Yumi asks Nomi, an evil smirk on her face.

“You two-” Suga is able to hiss out before he’s interrupted. 

“In the name of the sun, we’ll-” Yumi and Nomi say before stopping and looking at Suga. They’ve even grabbed pens from Suga’s old desk and are holding them like they’re in the middle of transforming.

“Come on, Senpai, do it with us!” Yumi says before going to pull Suga from the bed.

“I really don’t want-”

“Come on, Koushi,” Daichi nudges him with his elbow. “For me?” He gives Suga puppy dog begging eyes and pouts his lips. 

Suga almost kisses and slaps his face right there before deciding to give in. In the end, he is still the baby of the family. And when put together, his two sisters are a force to be reckoned with. Of course, Daichi also asked very nicely. 

“In the name of the sun, we’ll punish you!” Suga finishes the iconic line with his sisters before striking a Sailor pose, complete with the hand signs. 

“Now I really want to watch baby Koushi run around in a sailor outfit,” Daichi smiles.

“It’s a really cute video,” Yumi says before ruffling Suga’s hair. “We were even able to rope Taro and Jiro to play with us back then too.”

Daichi looks over at Koushi and sees his face beginning to actually turn into a real tomato. “Koushi, if you really don’t want me to watch the video-”

“Oh, Senpai just gets like this around boys he really  _ really _ likes,” Yumi says, putting Sailor Moon back on the shelf. “Isn’t that right, Sailor Sun?”

Suga takes a deep breath and smiles. “I love you so much, my favorite sisters in the entire world.” 

He tilts his head and his smile grows much more sinister. Yumi and Nomi’s eyes grow ten times larger and they practically run out of the room. But not before calling one last time for Daichi to come join them downstairs to watch Suga take on bad guys in a super cute Sailor outfit.

“Can I call you Sailor Sun now?” Daichi smirks at Suga. 

“Not unless you want to go back to LA without a boyfriend.”

“Kousuke’s family sounds like so much fun!”

Suga and Daichi are sitting on a bench in the hospital’s rooftop greenhouse. Apparently, this greenhouse was built because of a terminal pediatric cancer patient that wanted to be close to nature again. So the hospital, with generous donations from staff, other patients, and the community, built the greenhouse and the rest was history. 

“They are something else, that’s for sure,” Suga replies before taking a sip of his hospital cafeteria coffee. Bitter but it hits the spot… after watering it down with half its volume in creamer.

Daichi takes a sip of the water that he got from the cafeteria and breathes out. “They really seem to love Kousuke.”

“They love embarrassing him if nothing else.”

“Maybe that’s how they show their love,” Daichi replies, looking over at Suga. “I would have killed to have a brother or sister.” 

Suga remembers having this same exact conversation with Daichi on that first trip to Nashville together. For all of Suga’s family’s many, many faults, they were his family. And he knows that they’ll always love him. He is still the baby of the family after all. And now that both of his parents and obaasan have since passed away, his siblings have been his rock. At least over the phone and video calling.

“Being an only child must have been really different, yeah?” Suga asks, mirroring what he had asked Daichi back then too. A boy could hope that having the same conversation would help in just a small way.

Daichi takes a sad breath and replies. “It’s funny, I actually remember what it was like to grow up as an only child. My parents gave me everything I wanted and let me basically do anything. It was really fun, at times. But the one thing I wanted more than anything, was a little brother.”

Suga reaches out and places his hand on Daichi’s shoulder, feeling it shudder. Back then, he had placed his hand on Daichi’s cheek to catch any possible falling tears. But right now, it doesn’t seem like that would be the most appropriate thing to do. This is as far as he dares to go.

“I know I don’t talk about it a lot but it really sucks not being able to remember almost anything from the past like twenty years,” Daichi smiles at Suga’s hand and places his hand on it. “So it means a lot that you take time out of your day to hang out with me. Even if I can’t exactly remember who you are.” He chuckles and looks over to the plants in front of them. “At least besides being the guy who tells me this incredibly complex story about fictional characters.”

Suga has to stifle tears at this point. Daichi hasn’t been this open with him since the accident. It’s like a part of Daichi that had been closed off has finally begun to open. Even if that part is this dark and sad mess of lost memories. He wants to hug him and tell him everything will be alright but he can’t promise him that. Even if he does recover physically, he still might not regain what was lost. But he can’t dwell on that right now. 

“I’m glad I can be here for you, Daichi,” Suga says before placing his coffee on the ground. “I just want you to get better so you can finally leave this place.”

“Thanks, but do you happen to know where I would go after?” Daichi asks. “My parents passed when I was eighteen so and I don’t have any siblings…”

“Are you asking me if I know where you lived before here?” Suga knows he can’t tell Daichi that before all of this, the place he called home was in his arms. How cliche. Their very rent-stabilized apartment with enough space for the two of them to do their own things and also be together all the time. 

“That, and how close we were before all of this,” Daichi knocks on his temple and laughs quietly. “Because I highly doubt that a complete stranger would see me every day. Unless you’re like that desperate housewife from that show.”

“We were pretty close,” Suga replies, hoping his deliberate ambiguity goes off without a hitch. He needs to tread carefully here or risk a relapse to two weeks ago. “But the doctors, they-”

“They don’t want me to remember things too fast or I might get hurt again?”

“How did you-”

“Let’s drop it, okay?” Daichi takes another gulp of his water. “I don’t want to ruin this perfect New York winter day.” He pulls his coat tighter around himself and looks up at the sky. “I bet it’s going to snow again soon. I love the snow. Hopefully, I’ll be able to walk in it when it comes down.”

“I hope so too,” Suga replies, looking up at the same sky. 

No matter what happens, he’s glad he can still spend time with Daichi like this. Together. And once he does get better, he will make sure to take Daichi out to do everything they can when the snow is still around them.

“Do you mind continuing the story? I really want to hear about the rest of the trip before we have to go back.”

“Of course, now where was I?”

“Why aren’t they home yet?”

Suga paces back and forth in the living room. His eldest sister, Kou, looks up from her seat on the couch and closes her book.

“You need to stop worrying so much, Koushi,” she says, patting the seat next to her. 

Kou is the only one of his siblings that doesn’t call him Senpai because she always said it sounded a little weird coming from her. Being the oldest and all. It was Taro and Jiro who had given him that nickname when Suga was in the third grade and a couple of first-grade girls called him Senpai. They very clearly had crushes on the gray-haired eight-year-old and Taro and Jiro were quick to capitalize on that. And the name stuck after all these years.

“I’m sure Taro and Jiro are taking great care of Daichi. I bet as we speak they are having a blast eating greasy bar food and telling him funny stories from when you were little.”

“Is that supposed to make me feel better?” Suga asks, glaring at Kou. If she weren’t almost ten years older than him and if he didn’t still look up to her like a goddess among mortals, he would smack her or something.

“No,” Kou laughs behind her hand and opens her book again. “But for what it’s worth, I like Daichi. He’s way better than your last boyfriend. And I know for a fact that Mom, Dad, and Obaasan like him too.”

Suga smiles at that and his previous indignation with Kou begins to disappear as quickly as it had appeared. And is instead replaced with that warm feeling that enveloped him during the dinner he, Daichi, and his family shared that night.

Suga had begrudgingly allowed Daichi to watch the aforementioned, needs-to-be-burned home video of Suga, Yumi, and Nomi running around in homemade Sailor outfits and fighting evil in the form of Taro and Jiro who very clearly did not want to be involved. And after the laughter had subsided and Suga could look Daichi in the eyes again, his obaasan had called for Suga’s help in the kitchen. 

As he was chopping vegetables while his grandma prepared the rest of the shoyu ramen, his grandma had told him that even though she might never really understand what it feels like to be gay, she was happy that Suga had finally found someone good. When Suga asked her what she meant by “finally found someone good”, she merely patted the side of his cheek and told him that “he would find out soon enough.” Japanese elders would always be mysterious to him.

At dinner, Daichi ravenously ate everything before him, especially because, before coming to Nashville, Suga had mentioned to his family that shoyu ramen was Daichi’s favorite food. And ramen happened to be his grandma’s specialty. And like the way to a man’s heart, food and eating the food with a voracious appetite is the way to a family’s heart. He had even asked for seconds which was probably the only thing his grandma needed for her to approve of Daichi Sawamura. And the fact that he could speak fluent Japanese.

After dinner, however, his brothers had cornered Daichi and, with no resistance from him, had dragged him out of the house and to one of the many bars in town. Something about testing his muster. And no amount of protest from Suga was able to change their one-track minds. His sisters only had incessant laughter to offer when Daichi was whisked away from the house and into the night. And now Suga is here, sitting on the couch, racking his brain on the many horrible possibilities of this.

Maybe Taro and Jiro would make Daichi ride on a mechanical bull and he would be thrown off and hit his head so hard that he loses all of his memories. Or maybe he would get so drunk that he throws up all over the bar and gets thrown out and then ends up in jail for drunk and disorderly conduct. Or maybe he would walk into the bathroom to go pee and accidentally interrupt a drug deal and be caught in a huge drug sting operation and end up in prison for obstruction of justice and he would never see him again! 

Or maybe everything would be alright and he would come home, pleasantly tipsy and they would be able to laugh it all off. But that is wishful thinking of course. Whenever Taro and Jiro are involved, things never seem to go that smoothly. 

“OH MY GOD JIRO USE YOUR KEY!”

“I WOULD USE IT IF I COULD FIND IT, TARO!”

Suga’s head shoots up towards the noise from the front door. He doesn’t exactly remember when he had begun to dose off but it had to have been for a good amount of time because Kou is nowhere to be found. The front doorknob continues to wiggle along with the sound of keys clanging. Suga debates helping them but also wants his twin brothers to hurt for just a little while as their clearly intoxicated bodies try to do the mundane task of unlocking a door. That is until he hears Daichi’s drunken whine mixed in with them. 

“I want to see Koushiiiii. Where’s Koushiiiiiii???” Daichi whines through the door which is then cut off by Taro and Jiro’s inebriated laughter. 

“DAI-SAN REALLY HAS IT BAD DOESN’T HE, TARO?”

“SENPAI HAS THIS FIREFIGHTER WRAPPED AROUND HIS POLE, FOR SURE JIRO.”

At that, Suga finally opens the door, his arms crossed, and his gray hair threatening to burst into flames. He glares at his older brother’s red faces and doesn’t know whether he should laugh or yell at them. They were out for way too long and are clearly way too drunk and just overall, are too messy. The only possible thing that could quell his righteous indignation at his older brothers would have to be Daichi. 

“What did you do to him?!” Suga yells at his brothers as he helps them in. 

Taro and Jiro, although drunk off their minds, still find their way to the couch without any trouble and collapse on each other. Like birds of a feather. 

“Your boyfriend is cool,” Jiro says before closing his eyes.

“Don’t mess this one up, Senpai. Or we might have to beat you up this time,” Taro says before also closing his eyes.

And in no time at all, the both of them are fast asleep on the couch. How the two of them are still alive after all of their hijinks, is a mystery to Suga. But that isn’t the biggest worry on his mind. That is taken up by Mr. Daichi Sawarmura who is currently slumped against the front door, mumbling something Suga can’t quite hear. He throws one last narrowed eye look at his passed-out brothers, promises to put their hands in water, and goes to Daichi.

“Daichi, can you hear me?” Suga asks him.

“Koushi? Is that you, my sweet baby angel?” Daichi opens his eyes and smiles dumbly. “It IS you!” He shakily jumps up from the door and embraces Suga, knocking them both to the floor. 

Suga laughs as Daichi peppers the side of his neck with kisses. The kisses start rough and fast and then turn soft and slow when they begin their ascent towards Suga’s face. Suga would have appreciated them more if they didn’t smell like rum and coke, given that he hasn’t had the same amount of, or more, alcohol himself.

“Daichi, let’s get you some water, okay?” Suga says as he tries to wiggle his way out from Daichi’s drunken grip.

“I don’t want water! I just want you,” Daichi pouts as he sits up from Suga and crosses his arms like a child.

Suga can’t help but blush seeing his usually strong and responsible boyfriend act so childish. He had never gotten this drunk before either, at least not around him. Whenever they did go out to bars, sans their first meeting, Suga was the one who drank more and always needed to be carried out of the bar as he tried to sing along to any song that was playing. So to see Daichi like this is both remarkably funny and somewhat terrifying.

“Then how about some super sweet Pedialyte?” Suga offers, remembering that his parents always stocked that electrolyte drink in their house given how hangover-prone they both are. Being Japanese is not the greatest when it comes to handling alcohol, unfortunately. Having hyperactive alcohol dehydrogenase and underactive acetaldehyde dehydrogenase really is the worst.

“As long as it comes from you my love,” Daichi sing-songs before putting his hands over his mouth.

“Please don’t throw up on the floor,” Suga prays before rushing to get him a plastic bag. 

“I love you!” Daichi cries, his previous vomit warning gone. He stands up wobbly and reaches out for Suga who holds onto his hands. “And your brothers are so amazing. They are like so cool!”

“Let’s not tell them that, okay?” Suga looks over at his brothers on the couch and smiles. “But you’re right, my brothers are really cool.”

Having straight older brothers might have been a weird thing for Suga growing up for many reasons. First of all, he looked up to them like shining knights and when he couldn’t always relate to their more masculine and boyish interests, he always felt a certain disconnect. Like he would never quite be able to connect with them like he could with his sisters. Secondly, they always used to bring over their friends from school and that was when Suga began to realize that not every boy felt the same way about other boys like he did. And then he realized that his brothers’ friends were actually really attractive. And they could never know that his first kiss was actually with one of them. 

But despite those reasons and many others, Suga knows in his heart that his brothers love him and that, no matter what, they would do anything for him. Like when he was in sixth grade and a classmate called him that horrible three-letter word, his much taller and much older brothers waited for them after school and knocked some sense into that bully. And when he actually did decide to come out to his family, they didn’t make jokes like they usually did but instead, they hugged him and thanked him for letting them, and the rest of the family, into that part of his life. And, of course, in the six months between Oikawa cheating on him and him meeting Daichi, his brothers had sent Oikawa multiple threatening messages and warnings that cannot be repeated here for legal reasons.

So to hear that his brothers approve of Daichi, despite how they went about it, he is uncontrollably glad.

“Okay, drink up,” Suga says as he hands Daichi a glass of mixed berry Pedialyte. “If you drink all of this, and the second glass I’m going to pour you, I’ll let you sleep in the bed with me. If not, you sleep on the floor.”

“I don’t want to sleep on the floor!” Daichi cries before throwing back the entire glass in one gulp. 

Suga’s eyes widen as the entirety of the purple hangover-prevention drink disappears in a matter of seconds. He then wishes he would have had Daichi throw up a little in the sink before drinking the Pedialyte but this would have to do. Hopefully, Daichi had purged himself at the bar when Taro and Jiro weren’t looking or something. That would definitely help with his stomach tomorrow.

“Okay let me pour your second-”

“Koushi,” Daichi grabs Suga’s face in his hands and looks into his eyes. “I love you so much and your entire family and I have something I NEED to tell you.”

“And what’s that, Daichi?” Suga asks, his eyes darting towards the empty glass that he needs to fill.

“I LOVE YOU!” Daichi begins to tear up and collapses into Suga’s embrace, resting his head on Suga’s shoulder. “And when the time’s right and I have more money saved up, I’m going to buy you the biggest and most beautiful and special-est ring of all time.”

“Daichi,” Suga can’t help but crack a smile. Daichi is basically telling him he wants to propose to him eventually. Of course, he can’t forget that Daichi is probably blacked-out at this point but didn’t someone say that “drunk minds speak sober thoughts”? “You’re drunk, and-”

“I may be drunk but I’m drunk in love with you!” Daichi whines into Suga’s shoulder again and grips him even harder. “So, don’t go and try to propose to me, okay? I want to propose to you!”

“Okay Daichi,” Suga’s face breaks out into an uncontrollable smile. He hadn’t realized how these words, although coming from a very drunk Daichi, would make his heart explode into a thousand butterflies. But right now, he just needs to make sure Daichi will be of sound mind and body tomorrow because most likely, he won’t remember telling him any of this. “I won’t stop you if you want to propose to me. At least in a couple of years or so, okay?”

“You’re so smart, Koushi. This is why you’re the best teacher ever. Your kids love you but I love you even more than them. And- And-”

Suga knows what’s about to happen. Daichi’s hands are on his face and his eyes are glossed over and focusing on him at the same time. But he can’t move away quick enough. He is too mesmerized by his words. So enraptured that the vomit that is currently trailing down both of their shirts isn’t the first thing on his mind. In fact, it’s the last thing on his mind. The first thing is whether or not Daichi will remember what he’s told him. 

And when, where, and how he’ll do it.

“Okay, you did not just tell me that Daisuke threw up on Kousuke,” Daichi says as Suga pushes his wheelchair up to the nearest cafeteria table. “What narrative purpose does that hold besides make it grossly clear that Daisuke can’t hold his liquor?”

Suga laughs as he takes his seat across from Daichi. Between them are two chocolate pudding cups from the cafeteria. “It’s supposed to show how much Kousuke loved Daisuke and that mere vomit couldn’t interrupt that tender moment they were having!” 

“Even though Daisuke totally wouldn’t remember it the next morning?” Daichi asks before he takes his first mouthful of pudding. “And on that note,” he says after swallowing. “Why would he tell Kousuke that he was going to propose to him like that?”

“Pretty sure it was because he was black-out drunk. But who knows?” Suga winks at Daichi who raises his eyebrows in question. Unfortunately, the irony is still lost on Daichi. But as Suga takes his own spoonful of pudding, he hopes that it won’t be for long.

“I guess…” Daichi looks at Suga with his eyes focusing on something on the side. “But what’s weird is that I feel like I’ve heard this story before somewhere.”

Suga almost chokes on his pudding when he hears this. How could Daichi have heard their story before? Their history. The only people that had visited Daichi after he woke up were himself and their lawyer, Tsukishima Kei, and he for sure didn’t say anything about that. So, in short, there is no possible way for Daichi to know anything about this story… unless maybe it actually is fulfilling its purpose. Is Daichi actually beginning to remember things of their life together and the past twenty years because of the stories?

“Oh?” Suga is able to say without giving away too much. 

He can’t let Daichi see that the gears in his brain are working overtime, with no lunch breaks, and breaking multiple labor laws. What should he say? He is wary of treading too close to that line that he still can’t cross. But at the same time, he wants to see what is on the other side of this precarious tightrope. If it can bring the love of his life back to him, would he cross it?

“How do you mean?” He decides to let Daichi take the lead and only steer him if he gives him the signs.

“That’s the strange thing,” Daichi begins again, placing his head to his hand. “It’s like a far-off dream. Maybe a memory?” He pushes his mouth to the side and furrows his brow. “Do you know how you dream and everything is so crystal clear when you’re asleep but when you wake up, it fades away as quickly as your eyes open?”

Suga nods his head, painfully aware of that exact feeling. How many nights since the accident had Suga dreamt that it had all been a dream? That Daichi hadn’t been lying in the street, seemingly broken beyond repair? That he could just turn to his side and Daichi would be right there next to him, sleeping with that same rhythm that he had memorized so many years before? Only for the garish light of the sun and the incessant beeping of his alarm clock to wake him up from that dream and watch as his image of Daichi, perfectly unbroken, fades away into the waking world.

“Well, it’s like that,” Daichi continues. “Like I have this weird grainy, foggy, whatever memory of siblings and kind parents and taking an airplane somewhere with someone. But I can’t actually remember anything about it. Like I can’t remember their faces or what was actually said.” Daichi squishes his forehead in concentration or frustration. “It’s just so frustrating.”

“Not being able to remember your life?” Suga asks, wanting to reach his hand out to Daichi but deciding against it at the last moment. He’s not sure why but it probably has to do with the fact that there’s nothing he can actually do for him. If he could cut into his own brain and give him his own share of memories, he would. Anything to help Daichi. 

“Yes, it’s like I can remember things up to a certain point, and then-” he flicks his hands to reveal “Nothing. Like the end of a film reel or something.”

“I wish there was something I could do to help you with that,” Suga says.

Especially because the last time he tried to help, he ended up making everything so much worse. Being here with Daichi in this hospital cafeteria is a blessing compared to that night in his hospital room. 

“Talking with you and listening to your story, even if you say it’s fiction, has helped a lot actually,” Daichi replies, smiling softly. “Like I said, I feel like I know this story from before. Maybe I read it during all that time I can’t remember.”

“Maybe… If it helps, I can keep going.”

“I would like that a lot.” Daichi pauses before speaking again. “And I just wanted to thank you again.”

“For what?”  
“For visiting me here.” Daichi looks around him, surveying the entire cafeteria. “I know I probably knew you before I ended up in here and it means a lot that you still take time out of your days to talk to me.”

“It’s really no problem at all,” Suga replies, trying to convey how grateful he is that he’s able to be here with him but also not betraying how sad he is that it has to be here in this hospital. “I enjoy being here with you.”

“I find that hard to believe but okay,” Daichi laughs lightly. “For whatever reason, you’re here, so thanks.”

“If you thank me one time, I’ll stop telling you this story and make you go back to your soaps.”

“Anything but that!” Daichi pretends to faint, to which Suga pulls down his left eyelid with his index finger and sticks his tongue out.

“We’ll be back for dinner!” Suga calls from the front doorstep before rushing him and Daichi out of his family’s home. 

His brothers had since gone back to their own houses and families in the nearby suburbs, holding their heads and stomach in hungover pain. It serves them right for almost killing Daichi last night with their alcohol-laden “test” or whatever they tried to justify it with. Like he had thought the night before, Daichi didn’t remember coming home that night. Given what he had gathered from the three in question, it was a miracle that no one had died.

But thanks to Suga’s quick thinking with the Pedialyte and leftover pizza he found in his parents’ fridge, Daichi wasn’t in too much pain when he woke up. Of course, he didn’t remember anything after getting into the ride-share between the third and fourth bars. Which was both a blessing and a curse. 

A blessing because Suga could only imagine the sheer embarrassment and horror Daichi would feel if he knew that he threw up not only on himself but Suga too. And that Suga had to carry a borderline passed-out Daichi to the bathroom to wash off the vomit from both of their clothes and purge the rest of the toxins from his stomach. 

And a curse because of how much Daichi had divulged to Suga after coming home. Things that he wanted to ask him about when he first woke up. But he thought better of it when Daichi had asked if he said anything weird when he got home. And that was followed by him asking how he even got home. So asking about whether or not Daichi had been serious was out of the question.

He would just need to wait to find out.

“Thanks again for taking care of me last night,” Daichi says as he gets into the passenger seat of Suga’s high school car. “I’ve never drunk that much in my entire life but somehow, I don’t feel half as bad as I do after like two drinks.” He puts his hands on his forehead and stomach. “You’re like a gray-haired wizard, Koushi.”

“Silver-haired wizard, thank you very much,” Suga replies as he backs out of the driveway. 

Even after years of not driving this old Honda Civic that had been passed down from all of his siblings, it still feels like it did when he was in high school. The same gear shift, the same brakes, the same windshield with a slight crack on the top right which everyone said should be fixed even though no one would actually go through the hassle of getting it fixed. Some things never change, do they?

“Okay, silver-haired wizard,” Daichi corrects himself. He leans over and kisses Suga on the cheek. “Either way, you’re my savior.”

“I do like the sound of that. And it was about time that I took care of you after a night out. You know, given how it usually is.”

“Well that’s very true,” Daichi laughs to himself. “I just knew I had to keep up with Taro and Jiro though.”

“You did well. My brothers actually like and approve of you, which is pretty crazy, to be honest.”

“What would have happened if I didn’t get their approval?” Daichi asks, turning to Suga.

“Let’s just say, I would probably be driving you back to the airport as we speak.”

“You have to be kidding.”

“I don’t know, am I?” Suga winks at Daichi and turns back to the road.

Centennial Park looks just like Suga remembers it. 

Because they had come to Nashville on an off-peak tourist season, there aren't actually that many people in the usually crowded park. In fact, Suga had only seen a handful of people since arriving. Which was the best thing he could have hoped for. In fact, when they had gone almost ten minutes of walking around the park without running into anyone that Suga knew from his previous life, he whispered a silent “thank you” to whichever god or spirits might be listening.

On the drive from Suga’s family home, he had made sure to take the long way to the park. Through winding streets and many signal lights, he was able to point out things in his hometown that had once seemed so arbitrary and mundane before. But when he looked at Daichi’s excited expressions as he pointed out places like the comic book store he would frequent and the Target that he had once cried in the bathroom of over a boy, Suga couldn’t help but see his hometown, and old life, in a new perspective.

Of particular note, Daichi had made Suga pull into the parking lot of his old high school so he could see where Suga had experienced his four years of secondary schooling and awkward hijinks. Luckily, Suga had been a pretty decent student and citizen throughout his time at the high school, so when a familiar weekend security guard noticed them, he was able to talk their way out of trouble and into the school grounds. There, the two walked down his old alma mater’s hallways with Suga pointing out his favorite classrooms and where he had had his first kiss, in between passing periods, with his first crush, a bad boy named Terushima who had played volleyball with his older brothers. Daichi made sure to reenact that same kiss there with Suga, so he could take a small part of that memory as well.

After reminiscing his old days of being an awkward, half-in-the-closet, half-out-of-the-closet teenager, Suga was able to drag Daichi out of the school and back on the road. Not after taking a singular selfie in the high school gymnasium where Suga had been the starting setter of his volleyball team until his senior year, however. Which then prompted Daichi to offer that, when they got back to LA in a few days, that they should play volleyball together because he had been the team captain of his old high school volleyball team too.

“It’s still here!” Suga says as he basically jogs towards a seemingly random bench off the paved path through the park. 

The two of them had walked quite a bit through the park, sipping on iced coffee from the coffee shop he had worked at for a couple of summers. Which then made Daichi basically swoon when he mentioned that he always had had a thing for baristas. “It’s just something about the apron and the steaming of the milk and the-” Suga had kissed him to make him stop, mirroring their first interaction, over a year before.

“It’s… a bench,” Daichi states while Suga sits down and slowly caresses the metal with his palms. 

“Oh, contraire, my dear Daichi,” Suga begins, holding out his finger towards him. “This is no ordinary bench. It’s  _ the  _ bench.” Suga waits for a moment, hoping that Daichi would get the gist of it. When Daichi’s face gives nothing away except a slightly raised eyebrow, Suga sighs and continues. “This is the exact bench where I would sit for hours and hours on weekends and after school. I spent so much time on this bench that I actually gave him a name.” He pets the back of the bench and lowers his head towards it, not unlike interacting with a puppy. “Isn’t that right, Benchy?”

“No points for creativity, I guess,” Daichi laughs before attempting to sit down next to Suga.

Suga slaps Daichi away and glares at him. “No one who makes fun of Benchy has the right to sit on him!” He crosses his arms and looks back up at Daichi. “You apologize or you get to sit on the grass.”

“You've got to be kid-” Daichi stops when he looks at how serious Suga is. Nothing could melt that icy exterior except for an apology, maybe on all fours. “I’m sorry, Benchy,” Daichi apologizes, not seeming completely into it.

“Yeah, try again,” Suga says before taking a long sip from his coffee. “Like you mean it.”

“You’re so ridiculous, Koushi,” Daichi says with a grin.

“Who’s the one who basically bathed you last night so you wouldn’t be a nasty zombie today?”  
“I'M SO SORRY BENCHY, WILL YOU EVER FORGIVE ME?!” Daichi exclaims, blissfully unaware of the few people that had gathered around to see what all the commotion was about. He even gets on his knees and bows to the bench and, by extension, Suga. 

“Let me see if Benchy forgives you,” Suga says to Daichi before turning around to “talk” with Benchy. After almost no deliberation at all, Suga turns back to Daichi and nods his head. “Benchy says you’ll be fully forgiven on one condition.” 

“And what is that Benchy?” 

“You have to kiss me like you mean it.”

“Now, that I can do.” Daichi looks up at Suga with a devilish grin and sits next to him on the bench. He places his hand on the side of Suga’s face and kisses him, deepening it with every passing millisecond. Daichi eventually pulls back when they both feel something wet on their faces.

“Are you... crying?” Daichi asks, wiping away the tear from Suga’s cheek.

“Sorry, I-” Suga responds before pulling his sleeve over his hand wiping away the following tears. “I just never thought this would happen in a million, trillion years.”

“You never thought what would happen?”

“That I would ever kiss someone on this bench,” Suga says before laughing weakly. “I know it sounds stupid but it’s just really special to me.”

“You need to stop doing that,” Daichi says as he grabs Suga’s slightly trembling hand.

“Doing what?”

“Automatically saying that your feelings or ideas are stupid. I don’t know how badly that Oikawa jerk or whatever his name is messed you up, but I won’t do that.” Daichi places his hand on Suga’s cheek and smiles. “So please, stop apologizing all the time like that.”

Suga shakes his head and smiles, looking down at their laps. “You’re so amazing, Daichi. You always know just what to say, don’t you?” To which Daichi clicks his lips and gives him a wink and thumbs up. “Thanks, Daichi.” Suga takes a shallow breath and smiles up at him. “Well, I used to read books here all the time in high school and when I was back during college, hoping to meet someone. You know like in one of those meet-cutes? The ones that only exist in sickenly sweet young adult novels where the main character starts off super shy but after overcoming adversity and teen angst, always ends up with the love interest?”

“Yeah, who doesn’t?”

“Well, I never did meet anyone while reading Perks of Being a Wallflower or the Fruits Basket manga here, where the grass was green and the sky was perfectly blue." He looks at Daichi who seems a bit lost. “You know, like how all those meet cutes have perfect weather and everything is just magical and sparkly and,” Suga kisses his fingers and: “Chef’s kiss.”

“I guess I never was one to obsess over stuff like that,” Daichi responds. “But I think it’s so cute that you did and you do.”

“You better not be patronizing me…”

“I’m not, I swear,” Daichi raises his hands in surrender. “I’m just so in awe of how you look at life sometimes I guess. Like sometimes when I look at you, I see that main character in a coming-of-age romance movie, even if we’re almost halfway through our twenties.”

“Don’t remind me,” Suga, now twenty-four years old, sighs and looks up at the sky. 

He notices how the leaves are a perfect golden color as autumn has made its way into their lives. Gold would be the color that he would always remember as framing the first time he showed Daichi around Centennial Park and his hometown and into this part of his life he doesn’t keep on his sleeve. 

He looks back at Daichi and tilts his head. “But thanks Daichi. For not judging me for tearing up when you kissed me and saying all the right things and just being you.”

“Now it’s my turn to tell you to stop thanking me,” Daichi says as he seems to try to hide a blush. “I’m just glad that you’re showing me this part of your life. Because it’s pretty great. Who knew that the charismatic and somewhat wild Koushi Sugawara who basically pounced on me at Michimiya’s bar had such a soft spot for benches?”

“I’m just full of surprises, aren’t I?” 

They choose to continue sitting on that bench, their hands intertwined, and just talk. Daichi listens as Suga points out the names of the clouds in the sky, putting on his best first-grade teacher's voice as cumulonimbus and stratus clouds float by. Suga laughs as Daichi tells him about when he was growing up in Crow’s Landing, Pennsylvania and he would chase after ducks, hoping to catch one and make it his pet. 

They continue talking about random things, like how Nomi and Yumi wouldn’t stop going on and on about Daichi’s “bulging” firefighter muscles (which embarrasses Daichi more than the thought of Suga cleaning up puke for some reason). And when Taro and Jiro were basically injecting Daichi with alcohol, they made it abundantly clear that if Daichi did anything to hurt their little brother, their Senpai, that a highrise apartment complex fire would be nothing compared to them. And how the fact that Daichi can speak fluent Japanese, his parents and obaasan automatically liked him more than his last boyfriend even without the whole cheating thing.

When the autumn afternoon wind becomes a bit colder than their LA accustomed bodies were used to, they decide to make their way back to the car. But not before Daichi tries, in vain, to show Suga how to skip rocks on Lake Watauga, the man-made reservoir in the park. And Suga shows him the bandshell where he once saw a young, up-and-coming artist perform her original songs about Tim McGraw and Guitar Teardrops or something before she made it big. 

And lastly, Suga brings Daichi to the Parthenon which, although paling in comparison to the authentic Greek one, still mesmerizes both of them as they walk up to the Herculean pillars. Suga mentions how, when he was a lot younger and smaller and cuter, he and his siblings would play a mixture of hide and seek and tag among the pillars to which Daichi offers his own version. They would both hide behind pillars and the winner would get to be big spoon that night because the previous night didn’t actually count. And when Daichi inevitably wins, Suga gladly accepts this outcome. And not just because he threw the game because of his own selfish reasons. Of course not! 

“I can’t believe it’s almost time for dinner,” Suga remarks as he unlocks the door to the car. 

Daichi looks down at his own stomach and chuckles as it makes a small rumbling sound. “I guess we did eat a while ago.”

Before they made it to Centennial Park, Suga had brought Daichi to one of his favorite restaurants growing up. There he relived the glory days of his youth with the biggest basket of perfectly fried chicken, crunchy fries, and, to top it all off, a vanilla milkshake he made Daichi share with him. Just another one of the many stereotypical high school love story things Suga had always wanted to do with a boyfriend. Which Daichi willingly complied with. 

Suga turns on the car and looks at the old radio on the dashboard. “I think we’re having pizza tonight though. Given that we’re going to have a lot more people over.”

“Wait, more than last night?” Daichi asks, a sudden windfall of surprise coming over his dependable face. “How many are we talking about?”

“I don’t think I’m going to tell you that,” Suga laughs as he turns on the radio. “It’s more fun this way.”

A song from the aforementioned up-and-coming singer, songwriter, philanthropist, actress is playing which brings Suga back to those days of solemnly singing along to her more sad songs of heartbreak and loss. But when he looks over at Daichi he smiles and grabs his hand and squeezes it. It’s finally hit him, amidst the Nashville autumn and familiar streets he had grown up on, that he isn’t alone anymore. No other boy he had ever been with had ever made his heart flutter with a million butterflies and also feel as calm as a still, reflective lake at the same time.

“You know, Koushi,” Daichi responds. “You’re just full of surprises.”

“I try, I try.” Suga taps along to the song and whispers another prayer of thanks.

“But seriously, how many are we talking about? Ten? Twenty?”

“Let’s just say that my older sister and brothers got really busy with the baby-making so you’ll be fielding a lot of young ones.”

“Well, as long as they're related to you, they can’t be that bad.”

“Oh, you’d be surprised at how intense some two-year-olds are,” Suga laughs. “Makes me never want to have kids sometimes.”

“Mhmm,” Daichi replies back and looks out the window.

Suga wants to add “unless it’s with you” but decides against it when he remembers that Daichi hasn’t even proposed to him yet. In due time. In due time. First, they need to move in together, which he plans on bringing up on the plane ride home. And then they can think about the rest of it later.

“Thanks for today,” Daichi says as he gets himself back up on the hospital bed with Suga’s assistance. “It was really fun being able to get out of this room for once.”

“I’m glad you had a good time,” Suga says as he goes to grab his bag. 

After they had finished their food in the cafeteria, Suga had pushed Daichi around random wings of the hospital that visitors were allowed in. In between storytelling, Suga had tried his best to keep up his chipper demeanor when he really wanted to collapse from the weight of all those golden memories and the fact that they were still just fictional words to Daichi. Even if Daichi had shown some signs of remembering some things in a very disjointed way, it still wasn't what Suga had wanted. What he had needed.

“It sucks how short visiting hours are, huh?” Daichi asks when Suga puts his messenger bag on. “I wish you could stay here all the time. Or better yet, that I could finally get out of here.”

“You would want me to be here all the time?” Suga asks, somewhat dumbfounded. 

Sure they had gotten close and he visited a lot, but a part of him refused to let himself believe that Daichi would always want him here. It’s not like Daichi remembers that they’re married or anything. 

“Sure,” Daichi replies, smiling. “You’re the only person that comes to visit me and the story you’ve been telling me is so captivating and is helping me a lot and-” Daichi cuts himself off and looks away.

Suga tilts his head in Daichi’s direction and swears he can see the beginning signs of another blush. What could Daichi be blushing at? Could it be… him?

“Did you want to finish that sentence or should I just let my brain try to fill in the gaps?” Suga asks as he walks closer to Daichi’s bed.

“I- I mean-” Daichi starts off, extremely flustered. “I just really like it when you visit. That’s all.”

“Well, I’m glad to know I’m better than an IV drip.” Suga makes this astute observation as some of the night nurses begin their rounds. 

He makes a mental note to check in with one of them to inquire on how they think Daichi’s doing. He does know that nurses are just as, if not sometimes more, important as the doctors. And they deserve their time in the spotlight in some of those hospital dramas.

“Much better than an IV drip,” Daichi echoes. “When will I see you again?”

“Hopefully in your dreams,” Suga winks at him which makes Daichi’s face turn a bright tomato red. 

Suga had, for a split second, thought against teasing the poor defenseless Daichi like that but he just really wanted to see what his reaction would be. And it was just what he had expected. Could it actually be that Daichi was starting to feel something for him? Or maybe he had only blushed because Suga had made such a suggestive response. 

“Well, I mean-”

“I can come by tomorrow too... if you like.”

“I would very much like that, yes,” Daichi says, nodding his head up and down enthusiastically. He slaps his hands on his cheeks and shakes his head. Suga giggles at Daichi’s response and feels his heart skip half a beat.

“I’m sorry I don’t know what came over me,” Daichi continues. “I think I’m just tired from the day. Contrary to popular belief, being chained to a hospital bed by IV tubes and casts makes actually going out extremely exhausting.”

“I can only imagine,” Suga responds. He pushes away any negative thoughts that are brimming at the surface as his memories of Daichi’s first nights in the hospital threaten to return. He pulls at his messenger bag and walks towards the door. “Well, I’ll see you tomorrow, then.” And with a mischievous smirk, adds, “Which I would very much like as well.”

“I’m going to close my eyes and will my amnesia to make us both forget about that,” Daichi responds.

The two of them laugh like they always used to. 

And for a moment, they aren’t in the hospital room. 

But back in Centennial Park, trying to make shapes out of the clouds passing them by. They’re at Suga's childhood home, inhaling slices of pizza as Daichi uses chopsticks to become a walrus for Suga’s nieces and nephews. They’re ordering matching Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask costumes for their upcoming Halloween party, which Suga is actually fine with given how he had always wanted his own Tuxedo Mask to fall in love with. They’re watching a cheesy romantic comedy on the plane ride home to LA, spirits high as they agreed to move in together the following week. And they’re in their new apartment, bigger than either of their previous ones, and turning on their favorite show, ready for that new, exciting stage in their life.

“Until tomorrow,” Suga says to Daichi as he walks out of the hospital room, unfortunately back in the present time. And once the door is firmly closed behind him, he mouths “I love you” before willing his legs not to give out until he’s back at his apartment.

The apartment he refuses to call home anymore. Because home really is in Daichi’s arms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, thanks so much for getting this far ! If you feel so inclined, go ahead and leave a comment or reach out to me on Twitter because I love interacting with you all!


	4. Were There Clues?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! It's Vioni back with the latest chapter of this fic and I had so much fun writing this - also if you haven't read "Seven" yet, you might want to get on that because there's a very, very subtle hint to it hidden in this chapter.
> 
> (Also even though Michimiya and Osamu never interacted or met each other once in the anime... I'm kinda into it. hahah)

Suga gets off at the same subway station that he and Daichi had always done for years. Ever since the accident, Suga hadn’t had any reason to come to this part of Manhattan. But today is different because he wants to bring something special for Daichi. It’s been a week since he had retold the story of how Daichi had first met his family almost two decades before and everything had been going so well.

In fact, things had been going pretty great. With each subsequent visit, Daichi had seemed to remember a little more each time. Just small things here and there like that he had himself lived in LA like the fictional Daisuke and that he had actually visited Nashville a handful of times in his life. Although in all of these recollected memories, he never once mentioned Suga being there with him. But, ever hopeful, Suga didn’t let that shortfall dishearten him too much. On the contrary, it made him feel even better each and every day he woke up, knowing he was going to see Daichi and that he might remember a little bit more.

“Oh, Suga, It’s good to see you! Is there something you needed?”

“Michimiya, my favorite best friend,” Suga says as he leans on the counter. “I was going to pick up some flowers for Daichi and wanted to get some of your delicious onigiri to go with them.”

Michimiya smiles at Suga and turns around to the kitchen. “Hey Osamu, like usual, Suga is here before we open. Can you get his regular?” She turns back to Suga and winks. “So, does this mean Daichi’s doing better?”

If Michimiya had asked that only a week prior, Suga’s face would have dropped into the Earth’s core. But, given all the great strides that Daichi and Ennoshita and his doctors have been taking, he is instead extremely happy with this question. 

“Honestly, he’s doing pretty well. His memory isn’t completely back but it’s getting there! I’m thinking in a week or two he might actually remember that I’m the love of his life!”

“That’s…” Michimiya scrunches her nose and lets out a breath. “You’re amazing Suga. I don’t know what I would do if Osamu forgot who I was… I might off myself. I don't know.”

Suga stares at Michimiya with a slightly exasperated expression before she breaks out in an uncomfortable laugh.

“And there I go again, running my mouth,” Michimiya follows up, rubbing the back of her head. “I guess some things never change. But, who would have thought we would all end up here in New York?”

“Not me, that’s for sure,” Suga sighs as he rests his arms on the counter.

About a year after Daichi and Suga had gotten married, Michimiya and Osamu had left LA to open up an onigiri restaurant in New York, their toddler twin boys in tow as well. Of course, Michimiya wasn’t all that surprised that she had twins given her husband and his twin. And now, all these years later, the onigiri restaurant is still standing, a testament to both Michimiya’s and Osamu’s work ethic, and New York’s obsession with the “exotic.” Also, the fact that the food that Osamu and Michimiya cook up might even rival those in Japan but don’t ever tell their family back there that though.

“It all seems like it was just yesterday, doesn’t it?” Michimiya asks Suga, not expecting an answer. “Serving you too many drinks in that dive bar and introducing you to the Miya twins and watching you fall in love with Daichi.”

“We were so young. So full of life,” Suga adds, wistfully.

“Hey, we’re not dead yet,” Osamu says as he walks out from the kitchen, a container of his world-famous onigiri in his hands. “It’s good to see you, Suga.”

“You too, Osamu,” Suga says as he pulls out his wallet. “When Daichi gets better, I’ll be sure to bring him here first thing.”

“Hey, these are on the house,” Michimiya says, pushing away Suga’s wallet. She turns to Osamu who nods and smiles.

“I couldn’t put you out like this-”

“Seriously, Suga,” Osamu chimes in. “We insist. It’s the least we can do.”

“And besides,” Michimiya adds before pushing the takeout box into Suga’s hands. “You can save your money to buy Daichi an even bigger flower arrangement now.”

“You guys,” Suga says, feeling the beginnings of tears forming in his eyes.

“I swear if you start crying,” Michimiya says before frowning.

“Fine, fine,” Suga says as he begins to walk towards the exit. “But the first thing Daichi and I do once he’s out of the hospital is come here.”

“I can think of some other things you might want to do instead,” Osamu chuckles until Michimiya elbows him in the stomach.

Suga giggles his way out of the store and flips the sign to “Open” which incites many hungry customers to finally enter. He’s happy that at least Michimiya and Osamu have done well for themselves here in the Big Apple. Sometimes, he’s so surprised how long he’s been friends with the two of them, tracking over twenty years and thousands of miles. And how Daichi had once thought that Suga might want to share one of the most pivotal moments of their life with the two of them.

“Hey, Koushi, could you help me with this?” Daichi asks as he continues to fumble with his black tie. 

“What would you do without me?” Suga asks as he finishes with his own tie. He walks from the bed and meets Daichi in their shared master bathroom.

“Probably only wear clip-ons,” Daichi replies as Suga takes off Daichi’s tie completely.

“We wouldn’t want that now, would we?” Suga laughs as he messes with Daichi’s collar. “Can you believe Michimiya is making us all wear formal black-tie for a game night?”

“You know her better than me. She’s pretty eccentric, I guess.”

“Not as eccentric as me though, right?” Suga winks at Daichi before kissing him on the cheek. He flicking the tie on his face and laughs.

It’s been a little over two years since Daichi had met Suga’s family and they decided to move in together. Two years of waking up together, eating breakfast before work, talking about their days when they got home, cooking dinner, watching TV or reading, and going on random late-night adventures until falling asleep together, ready to take on every day just like that. In the meantime, Michimiya had since gotten together with Osamu Miya, the twin that Suga had mistakenly hit on while dating Atsumu Miya, and had gotten into the habit of hosting monthly game nights. Although her games nights had never dictated that black tie dress be required. 

But given that she is currently with child and probably has lots of prenatal hormones flowing through her and can’t drink any of the drinks she pours for her customers, Suga wouldn’t dare contest it. In fact, he is rather pleased he gets to see Daichi in a suit for once. Something about a man in a black suit and tie and that man being Daichi Sawamura makes him want to rip it off as soon as he sees it. But that would be for later tonight after he dominates everyone at every possible game.

“Do you have everything, Daichi?” Suga calls from the entryway before opening the front door. A cold gust of evening wind hits him square in the face and he shivers. He walks back inside to grab his coat and blue scarf. 

“Yeah! Go ahead and start the car,” Daichi says from the hallway, putting a small box in his inside suit pocket. Something that Suga catches from his periphery immediately. 

“Oh my god,” Suga says out loud. “Is that an engagement ring? Are you going to propose to me tonight?!” He follows up in his head, thanking the gods for helping him keep that second part out of his mouth. 

“What’s up?” Daichi asks, completely unaware of the gears and workers going a million miles a minute in Suga’s brain. 

If Daichi could look into Suga’s head he might see countless mini Suga’s running around the command office, trying to put out the fires everywhere and not explode in the process. Which is ironic given that Daichi is a firefighter himself and he is the sole reason Suga’s brain is going up in a conflagration of exhilaration and terror. 

“Oh, uh,” Suga looks around, desperately looking for something to use an excuse. “I was just going to tell you that it’s colder than I thought outside,” he grabs Daichi’s nearest coat. “So you should wear this.”

“Oh, thanks, Koushi.” Daichi puts on the coat and wraps his arm around Suga’s shoulder. “Like you said, ‘what would I do without you?’”

“I really don’t know.” Suga gulps slightly, feeling the presence of the small box in Daichi’s coat. Even though he knows the box is on the other side of Daichi’s suit, just chilling in a pocket. Blissfully unaware of what it’s doing to Suga’s imagination and thoughts.

He knows he loves Daichi and he has imagined getting married to Daichi basically since the night they met. But now that he knows this is an extremely real and plausible reality, he feels himself begin to get scared. Well, scared might not be the best word for it. But he isn’t sure what this feeling is.

All he knows is that at twenty-six years old, he might not be ready for this.

“In your honor,” Suga says in a horrible English accent as he lays out his cards on the table. “A Royal Flush.”

“I know you did not just quote the freaking Parent Trap right now,” Michimiya says as her previous straight flush of diamonds is wiped away from the board.

“No one here is even in British,” her boyfriend, the notorious Osamu Miya, says as he reshuffles the cards for the next round.  
  
“But the late-90s and early-2000s Lindsay Lohan is literally iconic. Back me up, Daichi.” Suga nudges Daichi beside him who nearly chokes on his drink at Suga’s touch.

“It’s stuff like this that makes me realize why we never really worked out,” Osamu’s twin, Atsumu, says as he takes a swig of his drink. Of course, he isn’t just Osamu’s twin; he’s also one of Suga’s long list of exes before Daichi came into the picture. 

“Pretty sure that’s because he kissed me one night,” Osamu says dryly as he deals out the next set of cards. 

“Hey, I swear I thought you were Atsumu,” Suga counters before taking a long swig of his drink. He would need a lot more of these if the night is going to head into the territory he thinks it will.

“Remind me again why we thought this would be a good idea?” Daichi asks, jokingly. “Being friends with your ex, your ex’s twin who you also kissed, and your bartender.”

“I am much more than his bartender,” Michimiya points her finger at Daichi. “I happen to know quite a bit about Suga’s sordid past that would be wildly inappropriate if any of his student’s parents found out about.”

“You wouldn’t dare,” Suga hisses before Michimiya sticks her tongue out at him.

“And besides, that’s all in the past, right guys?” Michimiya grabs Osamu’s free hand and squeezes it. “Right, Atsumu?”  
  
“Yo,” Atsumu puts up his hands in surrender. “I got over it pretty quick not gonna lie.”

“Oh, yeah with that tangerine-haired guy you met when you lived in Pittsburgh, right?” Suga asks him.

“Yeah… he was super cute but he was hung up on this dark-haired boy from his dreams or something. Whatever that’s supposed to- wait it’s weird that you know about that.”

Suga laughs behind his drink and feels Daichi’s hand wrap around his thigh for a second. He knows he should probably wrap up this conversion quickly but a part of him doesn’t want to. Because once they move back to the game, it will be over sooner, and then Daichi might decide to do something with his little box. But why would he do that here with Michimiya and the Miya twins? Especially given that he has now realized he has kissed every single person in this room at least once. Even he and Michimiya had kissed once when they were both very drunk because Suga wanted to see what girl lips tasted like and Michimiya wanted to see if she had to power to turn a gay guy straight, Rachel Berry style. It didn’t work.

“You know what they say about guys with silver hair?” Suga asks, raising his eyebrows.

“That they kiss the wrong twin?” Atsumu replies.

“You know what, Atsumu,” Suga flicks Atsumu’s forehead and laughs. “ _This_ is why we didn’t work out. Not the fact that Osamu is way cuter than you.”

“Now that I can agree with,” Osamu cheers, raising his cup to Suga’s.

Michimiya adds her own cup, filled with juice, to the mix while Atsumu sulks. Suga turns to Daichi who is clearly uncomfortable. He grabs his hand and squeezes it three times. He knows that this is probably not where he thought the conversations would be taking them tonight but also Daichi should have known better. And if he is actually going to try to propose to him tonight, in front of this current group of people who - mind you - Suga adores, he would have another thing coming for him. 

“I’m going to get another drink,” Daichi says as he gets up from his seat on the floor. “Do you want anything, Koushi?”

“I’m okay, Daichi. Hurry back so I can whoop all of you again.”

“The fact that there was a straight flush AND a Royal Flush in the same round seems kinda sus, you know that?” Atsumu says as he reclines back on his hands.

“You’re kinda sus, you know that?” Suga snips back.

“If I didn’t know better, I would totally think you two were dating,” Michimiya says as she leans on Osamu’s shoulders.

“Why would you say that?” Suga snipes back. “We dated like eons ago and I love Daichi and-”

Sure, he and Atsumu had dated at one point and he was pretty beat up about the breakup because of how dumb he had been. But to say that, while Daichi is just in the kitchen that doesn’t actually have a door is another thing. A thing that shouldn’t have been said at all.

“Just wanted to see your reaction, is all,” Michimiya smirks at Suga before getting up off the floor. “Osamu, Atsumu would you be able to help me in the kitchen for a second?”

“Sure, Yui,” Osamu says, following her lead.

“Wait, with what?” Atsumu asks, completely lying back on the floor. 

Apparently, he had become much more of a light-weight since he and Suga had broken up over four years before. Something that he and Daichi actually had in common. But the similarities end there. 

“Atsumu, we talked about this,” Michimiya says, eyeing Atsumu and then Suga and then the kitchen… very suspiciously. “I need your _help_.”

“I can help if Atsumu is too tired to get up,” Suga offers.

“Oh, that’s alright, Suga,” Michimiya tells him. “I need the Miya twins for this. So get your ass up off my floor, Atsumu.”

“Fine, fine I’m-” Atsumu squints and scrunches his nose and then looks at Suga. His eyes widen like a lightbulb has just turned on in his head. “Oh, that! I totally forgot about that for a second! Coming!”

Then, Suga realizes he’s all alone in the living room, a deck of playing cards in front of him, and this growing pit in his stomach. Like something huge is about to happen. Something he knows he doesn’t want to happen here. Not that he doesn’t like Michimiya and the Miya’s or he doesn’t believe in Daichi and his intentions. But more like, he just doesn’t want what he thinks is about to happen here of all places. In the apartment that he had woken up in more times than he could count when he was a young bachelor in between romances. 

Of course, he could be completely wrong about the little box and why Michimiya and co. had been so secretive and suspicious right then. But he is also a teacher, an elementary school teacher, and detecting weakly veiled lies is one of his specialties. Right behind teaching basic multiplication and how to write complete sentences. 

“Hey, Koushi,” Daichi says, walking into the living room, conspicuously empty-handed. 

Hadn’t he said he needed to get another drink? It isn’t like he made himself a drink and then downed it in the kitchen before coming. Unless he did do that to steel his nerves or something. And then Suga realizes that is probably exactly what happened. And now things are getting real. Too real.

“Where’s your drink, Daichi?” Suga asks, tilting his head in question. Although he is almost completely sure he knows the answer to this one. 

“Oh, that…” Daichi rubs the back of his head. “I ended up not making one.”

“Oh, why?”

“Uhh, because…” Daichi searches the room for something and then resigns to looking back at Suga. “There’s actually something I wanted to talk to you about and-” Daichi begins to lean forward on his leg, as if to drop to one knee, his eyes intently set on Suga.

“Oh,” Suga grabs onto his stomach and groans slightly. “I’m not feeling so good.”

“Wait, what?” Daichi drops to both knees and crouches next to him. “What’s wrong?”

“My stomach,” Suga lies through his teeth. “I think it was something I ate.”

“But we only had drinks tonight…”

“Or drank. Or maybe it’s because I haven’t had something to eat then,” Suga groans again, louder and more theatrical. “It hurts!”

“Is everything okay in here?” Michimiya runs into the room and sees Daichi holding onto a whining Suga. “Did you pro-”

“Koushi’s not feeling well,” Daichi interrupts her, shooting her a look that Suga catches from his amazing periphery. “I think I better get him home.”

“I’m sorry, everyone,” Suga apologizes. Although he is really apologizing for needing to lie, not for having a sour stomach like he wants them to believe. “You’d think I would be better at handling my alcohol on an empty stomach.”

“No worries, Suga. We hope you feel better,” Michimiya says as Daichi helps Suga off the floor. “We’ll reschedule for some other time then.”

“Sounds good to me,” Suga lies through his teeth again.

He doesn’t want a repeat of this night and having to cut Daichi off like that again. So he probably won’t be accepting any more game night invitations in the near future. At least until Daichi can choose a better time and place to use that little box that Suga can so clearly see in his coat pocket. 

“What a waste of a perfectly good night in a suit,” Suga wants to say. But instead, he just leans into Daichi’s arms as he walks him out of the house. 

As Daichi helps him into the car, all Suga can think about is how, in the end, he does want Daichi to use that little box. He knows it. Just not like this. Not tonight. There’s always next time. 

Suga smiles as he walks across the street, that hilariously awkward night in the back of his mind. Daichi had seemed so sure of himself or at least seemed sure that they would get engaged that night. He remembers how when they actually did get engaged, Michimiya and the Miyas had been a little disappointed that they hadn’t been there to witness it. But some things had to stay between him and Daichi, and their best friends had to deal with it.

Suga walks into the flower shop and with the familiar chime of the bells, remembers how much he loves these flowers. This exact flower shop is where Daichi would always get amazing bouquets for Suga and when pressed for a reason, would reply with either “just because,” “Do I need a reason to treat my wonderful husband?” or something along those lines. And every time, without pause, Suga would melt at the seams and fall in love with him again and again.

And today, he's going to return the favor. 

He browses the displays, trying to find the perfect arrangement to bring today. There are just so many to pick from that Suga almost falls over in exhaustion. How Daichi was always able to pick the most amazing and beautiful flowers for him all those times is completely lost on Suga as he gets lost in all of the colors and combinations before him. Choice paralysis is a real thing, apparently.

“Do you need some help?” the florist asks as she walks over to the visibly distressed Suga.

“Yeah… That would be great,” Suga meekly replies. “I used to be so good at picking stuff like this out. I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”

“That’s alright, let me see if I can help,” she says before looking over all the flowers. “Do you know what the person’s favorite flower is?”

“Yeah, he really likes hyacinths.” 

Daichi had once told Suga he liked hyacinths because they remind him of small swords of flowers coming from the ground. And how, although they come in so many different colors, they always retained that tall, sturdy quality to them. Something that makes Suga smile every time he sees these flowers, sturdy like Daichi but also so devastatingly beautiful.

“Hyacinths are very beautiful, great choice,” the florist says before going in on the many hyacinth arrangements. “May I ask what the occasion is? I only ask because it helps me narrow in on which arrangement might be the best.”

“What do you think would be the best thing to get for your husband who doesn’t remember he’s your husband because of an accident and you’re hoping that he’s going to remember you and the years you’ve spent together because if he doesn’t, you might wither away into nothing?” 

“Well, that’s new,” The florist says. Suga can just imagine the little brain people in her head pressing the self-destruct button right about now. 

“Ha, ha, kidding,” Suga follows up almost immediately. He almost runs out of the shop in sheer embarrassment. He isn’t sure what had come over him but that sure was a lot. Poor florist. He would make sure to tip her a lot for dealing with all that. “But I am visiting my husband in the hospital. And I would like something to spruce up his room.”

The florist lets out a sigh of relief before turning back to the flowers. “I was about to say… that sounds like a movie I watched when I was younger.”

“What ended up happening at the end?” 

“It was a long time ago, but I don’t think the wife ever really regained her memories… But the couple does stay together and I think she falls for him again” The florist picks up two different arrangements and hands them to Suga. “Which do you think he’ll like better?”

Suga tenderly holds the arrangements, trying his best to keep his hands from shaking too hard. He had said he was kidding about the whole memory loss thing so she couldn’t have actually known. The flowers before him, although beautiful, lose color for a moment when the possibility that Daichi might never actually remember their life together creeps in. All that time, those precious memories, those fleeting moments in the sun, would they all mean nothing if his other half doesn’t remember them?

“Mr. are you okay?”

Suga looks up at the florist and puts on the best fake smile he can muster. “Sorry, I was thinking about my husband for a moment. I think he’ll like these the best.” He hands her an arrangement with blues, whites, and pinks. This combination of colors brings him a sense of peace as it mirrors the color palette that they had chosen for their wedding all those years ago. A wedding that he remembers so vividly… that Daichi might never truly remember.

“Sounds good. Let me go cut these and wrap them up for you. If you’ll follow me to the counter.” She leads Suga to the counter where she makes quick work on the mismatched stems and unsightly parts. “The movie was very beautiful in the end, though,” she says as she wraps the flowers in plastic.

“But she never remembered her husband… how could that be beautiful?” Suga asks, the concern all too clear on his face.

“I guess it just reminds me that although bad things happen all the time to people, sometimes good can come from them. Or at least, good can persist.” The florist begins typing on the cash register and looks up at Suga. “Would you like a vase for these? I’m not sure what kind of vases the hospital might have so…”

“Sure,” Suga replies, handing her his credit card. “So you’re saying that even though she didn’t actually remember him in the end, the fact that she still chose to be with him is beautiful?” Suga can understand why someone would think this. But how did the husband feel in this story? Knowing that his wife would never truly remember all of the mundane and usual things they would do on their day-to-day? The small things in between the big things that make life so great?

“Yes, because love persisted even in the face of such tragedy.” The florist hands him his credit card as well as a beautiful glass vase with the plastic-wrapped flowers in it. “The couple couldn’t prevent the accident but they were able to find their way back to each other. Love is a funny thing, I guess.”

“Yeah, I guess,” Suga gives her a small smile and goes to leave. “Thanks for the flowers.”

“Anytime. Also, I hope your husband gets well soon!”

“Me too.”

Suga walks out of the flower shop and is immediately struck by the chill of the winter wind. Luckily, it isn’t snowing right then but he knows that if he doesn’t make it out of the cold as soon as possible, the flowers might suffer. And he refuses to give Daichi anything less than perfect right now. Especially because of how hopeless he had felt only minutes before when met with the idea that Daichi might never actually remember him.

But even so, he persists. Because he can’t give up on him. On them.

“You brought me flowers?” 

“I thought your room could use some brightening up,” Suga says as he fills up the vase with water from the bathroom. “At least when I’m not here.”

“You sure think highly of yourself,” Daichi replies, the laughter in his voice not lost on Suga.

“Well, yeah. I’m pretty awesome.” 

“There’s no doubt about that.”

When Suga had made it to the hospital, in record time, he had run into Ennoshita who mentioned that he wanted Suga to accompany him to Daichi’s PT session later that day. Apparently, Daichi had been talking a lot about Suga during their usual in-room PT sessions and Ennoshita thought it would be a good idea if Suga were present for one of the more strenuous exercises. For moral support or something. Of course, Suga immediately agreed because he both didn’t want to be away from Daichi if he couldn’t help it and he wanted to see Daichis’ progress first-hand.

“You know, Ennoshita wants me to watch your session today,” Suga says after messing with the flowers so they would look the best when in their vase.

“How did you know hyacinths were my favor- wait what?” Daichi responds, mid-smelling the flowers. "I don’t know how I feel about this…”

“Wait, why? You don’t want me there?”

“Well, I just…” Daichi looks away from Suga for a moment before circling back on him. “It’s a little embarrassing.”

“How is it embarrassing? I’ve helped you out of your bed countless times and I totally got a glimpse… under there once.” Suga motions to Daichi’s crotch. _And many, many, many times_ he wants to add but knows he really shouldn’t.

“I know… it’s just that in those sessions I’m really at my weakest and I don’t want you to see me like that.”

“You don’t have to be strong for me,” Suga says, trying to keep his face kind rather than show the indignation beginning to boil in his stomach. “I want to be able to cheer you on when you’re doing what you do in PT…” Suga takes a second to think. “Although I’m not really sure what you do in PT besides those really suggestive stretches.” Suga chuckles to himself.

“If you really want to be there and Ennoshita says you should I guess I should just go with it, right?”

“That’s the spirit!” Suga laughs before sitting down on the side of Daichi’s bed. The chair just doesn’t feel as appropriate, given how close they had gotten in the previous weeks. And a part of him wants to test the boundaries of what Daichi might feel. “And I promise that I won’t make you feel self-conscious.” He reaches his left hand out towards Daichi’s hand. “If it makes you feel better, I could like be shirtless so you can focus on how embarrassing that is rather than yourself.”

“I don’t think you realize how that might not actually be helpful,” Daichi responds before looking down at Suga’s outstretched hand. “And your husband might not appreciate it.”

“Wait, husband?” Suga asks, taking back his hand. 

He rubs his hands together and feels the wedding band on his left hand. He hadn’t taken it off once since the accident, not even when he showered which might have been dangerous but he didn’t really care. The same wedding band that Daichi had given him that wonderful day so long ago. The gold may have faded a little over the past decade and a half, but it still feels the same to him.

“I didn’t want to think about the fact that you’re married,” Daichi says, not meeting Suga’s eyes. “Especially because of how much time you spend with me but I would hate to get in the middle of things. I’m just built different I guess.”

“I-” Suga almost laughs at Daichi’s use of that slang that he had introduced to him only the day before. “My husband. He’s-”

“You don’t need to explain. Thanks for coming all this time but I think maybe you shouldn’t come by anymore.”

Suga desperately wants to move towards Daichi and kiss him to make him stop. To make the feelings that he’s conveying disappear. To make him realize that the husband he’s so worried about is him. But the images of that second horrific night come rushing in before his muscles can begin to move. Another lie is on its way. 

“My husband and I are separated,” Suga lies through his teeth. Separated by amnesia, but separated nonetheless. And that mental separation is worse than any physical separation could be. “We don’t see each other at all. I just wear this,” Suga looks at his band. He won’t take it off though, even if it might make the lie even more convincing. “Because it’s comfortable and I haven’t taken it off in a long time.”

“You’re probably lying but I don’t want to press you on this,” Daichi responds, totally seeing through Suga. “It doesn’t matter anyway.”

Suga reaches out to Daichi. “What did you want to say?”

“I wanted to say,” Daichi looks at Suga in the eyes and grips the sheets on his bed. “Even though I hope you’re lying and you actually are separated from your husband, in the end, I’m still stuck in this hospital, without any memories of my adult life.” He takes a deep breath. “But despite all of that, I think I’m falling for you, Suga”

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SORRY FOR THE CLIFFHANGER EVERYONE - I'M WATCHING WANDAVISION AND ATTACK ON TITAN WEEKLY AND ALL I KNOW IS PAIN AND CLIFFHANGERS SORRRYYYYYYYYY.
> 
> Also, please like and subscribe if you enjoy my content - lmao comments make my day and I love hearing what you all have to say :)
> 
> Until next week!


	5. Cold was the Steel of my Ax

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to apologize in advance to all the Oikawa kinnies out there - someone had to be the bad guy and he was... a very easy choice. Please don't @ me... or if you do, leave a comment about how much you love him but LOVE Suga at the same time?

“Hey Koushi, could you help me with-”

“I’m serious, what would you do without me?” 

Koushi is already in front of Daichi, his hands making quick work with the same tie that Daichi always has trouble with. At this point, he might just bite the bullet and throw out all of Daichi’s ties and replace them all with clip-ons. Even after all this time, he still can’t wrap his head around how someone as responsible and level-head as a recipient of a Medal of Valor from his fire station can’t seem to tie a simple tie. But a part of him, the majority of him, wouldn’t want to change a single thing about Daichi.

“You know, I’m getting some pretty intense deja vu right about now,” Suga says as he dusts off Daichi’s shoulders. 

The similarity between this scene and the one right before that very awkward game night is not lost on Suga. In fact, the little people in his brain are working at over capacity trying to stay as calm as possible. Because tonight could actually be the night. As long as no one he’s kissed before shows up.

“Don’t worry, we’re not going to a game night or seeing the Miyas and Michimiya,” Daichi tells him before placing a soft kiss on Suga’s forehead. “Tonight is just about us.”

“Now, that I can do,” Suga responds before placing a reciprocal kiss on Daichi’s cheek. One for good luck. For both of them.

“You know, Koushi, I’m always kind of surprised that this is your favorite restaurant in LA,” Daichi says after the waiter had taken both of their orders.

“Well, it’s my favorite fancy restaurant,” Suga replies. “Like only for special occasions.” Suga leans forward at Daichi and gives him a devilish smile. “Is tonight a special occasion?”

When Suga and Daichi had arrived at the restaurant in their suit and tie, they were seated immediately. But right when they sat down, Daichi made a rather clumsy scene which included him needing to go outside to check something in the car. But as Suga watched him leave, he noticed not only a familiar box in Daichi’s coat pocket but also Daichi speaking to the hostess with a very suspicious gleam in his eyes. 

“Are you saying I can’t take out my amazing boyfriend for an amazing date night on a whim?” Daichi asks, holding Suga’s left hand in his.

“Oh, I’m not saying anything like that at all,” Suga remarks. “Besides, I would never pass up an opportunity to be treated to a juicy steak and lobster dinner by a hot Japanese guy.”

“So if another ‘hot Japanese guy’ offered to buy you a steak and lobster dinner, you would take him on it?”

“Depends on how hot the guy is and how expensive the steak and lobster are,” Suga winks at Daichi before sticking his tongue out at Daichi’s stink face. 

“Good to know where you stand,” Daichi says before taking a sip of his wine.

“Oh shut up,” Suga laughs at him. “You know you’re the only hot Japanese guy for me. And besides, I’m pretty sure if we broke up, my brothers would choose you over me.”

“Oh really?”

“I swear, sometimes when Taro or Jiro call me, they really just want to talk to you.”

“Maybe I should just date them.” Daichi offers.

“And maybe I should be straight.”

The two of them break out into a raucous laugh which garners awkward stares from the people around them. When they stop laughing and look back at each other, they can’t help but laugh again, albeit a little quieter. It is a fancy restaurant after all.

After they finish their salads, they go through the normal motions of their usual date nights. Talking about their respective days at work, what funny thing one of Suga’s students did that day, which one of Daichi’s colleagues either made him want to set himself on fire or jump off a three-story building, normal things. But it’s these normal things that Suga loves. Being able to talk about anything with Daichi and feel at peace.

Mid one of Daichi’s usual rants about his funny and sometimes annoying coworkers, Suga rests his head on his hand and looks at him with that goofy smile he can’t hide. Ever since meeting Daichi in that dive bar and not scaring him off, he’s known that Daichi is special. That somehow, he got extremely lucky that night to meet this amazing man before him. Who could make him feel like he’s in heaven and on earth at the same time.

Like nothing at all could ever go wrong when he’s with him.

“And then I’m like, ‘No, you can’t use the fire truck to pick up girls,” Daichi laughs and takes another sip of his wine.

“This is why straight guys give me the creeps,” Suga laughs. And to not give any indication on his very expressive face that he might know what Daichi totally has planned for tonight.

“Most of the time he’s alright,” Daichi replies. “But yeah straight guys, not into them.”

“Good thing I’m not straight, right?” Suga winks at Daichi, glad that he was able to calm himself so quickly. He would have all the time in the world to freak out later. “Because if I was straight, I wouldn’t be able to date you and that would be the worst.”

“That would be the worst. Who would tie my ties for me?”

The two of them laugh again before their food arrives. They both ordered the steak and lobster, the specialty at this restaurant. And as Suga had previously mentioned, his favorite dish here even if the price tag was a bit on the higher end. But of course, Suga had to try some of Daichi’s food even though they ordered the exact same thing. There is just something about eating your partner’s food that makes it taste so much better than your own.

After Suga took his last bite and pushed his plate away from him, Daichi cleared his throat heavily. So loud, that their waiter looked at him and nodded. 

“Koushi,” Daichi starts before shaking out his shoulders. “I-” he gulps and looks around frantically for a moment. “Did you like your food?”

“Daichi, are you okay?” Suga asks, reaching out his hand to him. “Of course, I liked my food. But you look stressed. Is something wrong?” That’s when it hits Suga square in the face. In the deliciousness of his food, he had forgotten the question that Daichi is about to ask him. And then he feels the food in his stomach doing a dance that he can’t stand.

“Sorry, I-” Daichi takes a deep breath. “Koushi Sugawara, when I met you three years ago in that dive bar, I had no idea how my life was going to change.” He grabs one of Suga’s outstretched hands. “And I can’t imagine my life without you.”

“Daichi,” Suga whispers out before covering his mouth with his one free hand. He totally knew this was going to happen. But now that it is, he can’t contain the goofy, uncontrollable smile on his face. Isn’t it every young boy’s dream to be proposed to by a dashing Japanese firefighter prince in his favorite restaurant of all time? “I-”

“And,” Daichi gets up from his seat, still holding onto Suga’s hand. “I can’t wait another second to ask you-”

Suga feels tears beginning to form in his eyes, tears he wishes would come a little later so he can fully appreciate the sight before him. Sure, Daichi told him he would do this years ago when he was black-out drunk but none of that matters. This is shaping up to be one of the best nights of his life. In mere seconds, he wouldn’t have a boyfriend anymore. Instead, he would have a fiance.

“If you want to spe-”

“And here’s your table, sirs.”

Suga and Daichi turn to look at the source of this interrupting voice from the empty table next to them.

“Oikawa?” Suga’s jaw drops through the floor, and the earth’s crust, all the way to the other side of the world, and into the atmosphere.

“Oh my god, Suga,” the man with light brown hair says as he stands by his chair. “I didn’t know you’d be here tonight.”

“Iwaizumi,” Suga ignores Oikawa’s words and glares at the man with black hair who is also standing, dumbstruck, by his chair.

“Wait, are these-” Daichi starts, still standing as well, one of his hands in his coat pocket. Most definitely holding onto that small box that Suga so desperately wishes he could hold in his own hands right.

“Yes, Daichi, this is Toru Oikawa, my ex-boyfriend, and Hajime Iwaizumi, his-” Suga can’t bring himself to follow up with whatever that insidious Iwaizumi might be to Oikawa. 

“Uh,” Iwaizumi mumbles out before extending a shaky hand to Daichi. “I’m Hajime Iwaizumi. I’m Toru’s, I mean Oikawa’s-”

“Wow, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa interrupts him before slapping him on the shoulder. “I haven’t seen you this nervous since-”

“Since I walked in on you two?” Suga asks nonchalantly before downing the rest of his glass of wine. He looks up at Daichi who has finished shaking Iwaizumi and Oikawa’s hands. Ever the polite Japanese man, Daichi is.

“That’s one way to put it,” Oikawa says before he finally sits down at his table.

“I’m just going to leave these here…” The clearly uncomfortable waitress who had been standing there the entire time says before leaving two menus and high-tailing it out of there. She doesn’t get paid enough for this.

“And how would you put it, Oikawa?” Suga turns back to him. 

It’s been over three years since he last saw Oikawa, the last time being when he went to pick up the stuff he had left at his apartment. And Suga has sworn he’s grown up and matured since then when all he could do was say two words before the waterworks began. Now, with Daichi across the table from him as his rock, he believes he can stay here and not dissolve into mush like back then.

“I mean-” Oikawa starts before opening his menu. “I probably wouldn’t have said anything at all. It was so long ago, you know.”

Red. Suga begins to see red in the corner of his eyes. How could Oikawa say something like that? Sure, it was over three years ago and both of them had since moved on, but they had still been together for over a year when all that transpired. When he walked in on the two people right next to him and Daichi playing naked twister next to a pair of boots Suga had accidentally forgotten at Oikawa’s apartment. 

“Hey, Koushi,” Daichi reaches his hand out and holds Suga’s across the table. “If you want, we can leave.” 

Suga can’t help but notice the disappointed look on Daichi’s face. Of course, Suga is extremely disappointed himself. He was about to get proposed to after all.

“No, please don’t do that on our account,” Iwaizumi says, putting his menu down. He kicks Oikawa under the table, prompting him to put down his menu as well. “If anything, we should leave. You were here first.”

“But, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa whines. “You know how much I was looking forward to the lamb from here.”

Suga looks at Daichi and sees his resolute face. The kindness in his eyes. 

“It’s fine,” Suga sighs out. “Daichi and I were just about finished with our food anyway.” He looks at his near-empty plate. All that’s left is the dessert they had ordered with their meal. A chocolate lava cake for two. They’re favorite dessert to share that would put them over the edge to pure food-inspired bliss.

“Oh, alright then,” Iwaizumi says before opening his menu again.

“Hey, Koushi,” Daichi says quietly to him. “I’ll be right back. I need to check on something.”

“Wait, please don’t leave me here alone.”

“It’ll be like max five minutes, okay?” Daichi squeezes Suga’s hand three times before getting up. 

Suga can’t imagine why Daichi would leave him at this table all alone, next to  _ them _ . But it has to be something really important or else he wouldn’t have even dared. Suga just needs to hold out for these next five minutes while the two people in the world he can actually say that he hates are not even six feet away. No social distance here.

“So, Suga, you sure look nice tonight,” Oikawa says before placing his menu down in front of him. “Something special happening?”

“Toru, I’m sure Suga doesn’t want us to interrupt his night more than we already have,” Iwaizumi says to him before giving Suga an apologetic look.

“Oh, I’m sure Koushi doesn’t mind,” Oikawa replies back before turning back to Suga. “Isn’t that right?”

“Please don’t call me Koushi,” Suga hisses back, not meeting Oikawa’s eyes. “I only let people close to me call me that. Sugawara is fine.”

“Oh, don’t be like that,” Oikawa huffs out before leaning in closer to Suga. “If I remember correctly, you liked when I called you that when-”

“Toru, that’s enough,” Iwaizumi says, raising his voice at Oikawa. “I don’t know what’s gotten into you. But-”

“Oh, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa says before leaning back in his chair and folding his hands behind his head. “I was just joking. And it looks like Suga has moved on to a new guy.”

“His name is Daichi and he’s ten times the man you are,” Suga says before taking a deep breath. “And once he gets back, we’ll be leaving.”

“And where did you meet this, Daichi? Hopefully not at that gross bar you liked so much back when we were in college.”

“And what’s so wrong about Michimiya’s bar?” Suga turns to Oikawa, his blood beginning to boil. 

20%

“Oikawa, you should drop-” Iwaizumi tries to interrupt but is steamrolled by Oikawa.

“It’s so dark and musty in there. And the drinks are subpar. And-”

“I happen to really like that place,” Suga says, crossing his arms. “And, for your information, Daichi and I did meet there. And it was amazing.”

“As amazing as a decrepit dive bar can be, I guess,” Oikawa waves him off. “Didn’t Michimiya buy it for like almost nothing because the bar had been previously shut down because of a rat infestation or something? That is not what I would call amazing.”

40% 

“Unlike people apparently, bars can change,” Suga snipes.

“Ooo, that hurts, Koushi,” Oikawa says, placing his hand over his heart.

“It’s Sugawara to you,” Suga says again, with more force. “Now, where is Daichi?”

60%

“Oh, did your knight in shining armor abandon you?” Oikawa asks in an extremely patronizing tone. “Ow! Iwa-chan, what was that for?”

“If you can’t behave yourself, we’re leaving,” Iwaizumi says before rubbing his forehead. “I knew I shouldn’t have let you have that drink before leaving the house.”

“You two live together?” Suga asks, knowing that he doesn’t actually want the answer. He isn’t even sure why he’s talking to them unprompted. 

“Does that make you jealous?” Oikawa asks, extending his bottom lip in a comical frown. “Because yes, Iwa-chan and I live together. Have been for a couple of years.”

“A couple of years-” Suga says before cutting himself off. 

A couple of years could mean that they started living together like a year after Oikawa broke Suga into pieces. Or it could even mean they moved in together almost immediately after that. Either option doesn’t sit well in Suga’s stomach though. Nobody wants their ex and their mistress, or mister, in this case, to end up together. No matter how long ago the indiscretion was. 

80%

“Yeah, we’re pretty serious. Isn’t that right, Iwa-chan?” Oikawa says before reaching for Iwaizumi’s hands. Iwaizumi gingerly takes his hand and blushes before looking at Suga. He drops Oikawa’s hand and sighs.

“We should just leave Suga to it,” Iwaizumi says. “This was a bad idea.”

“This isn’t a bad idea, Iwa-chan. A bad idea was cheating on Suga.”

“What?” Suga, Iwaizumi, and a third voice ask in unison. Suga looks up and sees Daichi has returned, one of his hands hidden in his coat pocket. 

“What?” Oikawa asks back before laughing. “I mean like Iwaizumi was a way better catch. I should have broken up with you before all that because I didn’t even love you then, Suga.”

“What are you saying?” Iwaizumi asks, horrified. “Oikawa, we need to leave.” 

“You take that back right now,” Daichi says, glaring at Oikawa in a way that Suga had never seen before. Like he could rip out Oikawa’s arms and hit him with them. Like actual flames could shoot out of his ears at any moment. Suga can see Daichi beginning to wind up to punch Oikawa right in the face. And if he was a lesser person, he would let it happen. It would sure take him down a few levels. “You need to apologize to Koushi, or I swear you’ll regret it.”

“Oh, so he can call you Koushi?” Oikawa laughs and hiccups. “I bet you like it when he calls you that in bed.”

“Oh, that is it!” Daichi lets out before closing in on Oikawa.

“Daichi,” Suga says, putting his hand on Daichi’s arm. “Thanks but-” Suga takes a deep, warm breath. “Let me handle this.”

90%

“Ooo, he says he’s going to handle it,” Oikawa mockingly mimics him and turns to Iwaizumi with a “get a look at this guy” gesture. “Daichi must be pretty dumb to date someone as dramatic as Koushi”

100%

“Suga, I’m so sorry for-” Iwaizumi cuts Oikawa off and begins to apologize.

“Oh, shut up, Iwaizumi,” Suga tells him. “I don’t want to hear your incessant apologies anymore. I honestly couldn’t care less if you’re ‘sorry’ for what you did back then. That was then and I’ve actually gotten over it.” Suga gives Iwaizumi a tight smile. “But no matter what you say, I’ll never forgive you for what you did. You can feel bad all you want but I don’t really care..”

“Hey, don’t be mean to Iwa-chan,” Oikawa whines, furrowing his eyebrows. “I’ll have you know that the entire time, he was trying to get me to break up with you.”

“You do realize how bad that makes both of you sound, right?” Suga asks. “You don’t need to answer that because the answer is pretty clear. It makes you both sound horrible. But, you’re right. Iwaizumi has been trying to be polite the entire night which I appreciate. But you-” Suga points at Oikawa. “You haven’t changed at all. In fact, you might have gotten even worse than you were back then.”

“Suga,” Daichi says, seemingly a bit calmer than he was previously. “I think we should go.”

“Not yet, Daichi,” Suga turns to him and mouths “I’m sorry.” He turns back to Oikawa and Iwaizumi and closes his eyes. “You both are just horrible people. Oikawa more than Iwaizumi, of course. But I just can’t believe I wasted almost an entire year loving you, Oikawa.”

“I’m pretty loveable, alright? We get it.” Oikawa laughs to himself.

“Will you just SHUT UP!” Suga exclaims, pushing back from his seat and standing up. “I’ve had enough of you for one night! And,” he looks around to the rest of the restaurant where everything has come to a complete standstill. It seems like even the kitchen has stopped working. “I’m sorry to everyone here tonight but I’m about to be unapologetically insane for a minute.” He turns to Daichi and gives him an apologetic look and smile. This isn’t how either of them had wanted this dinner to go. At least the food was good.

“You, Toru Oikawa, from backwater Mississippi, are one of the most narcissistic, self-absorbed, and awful people I have ever met. Honestly, you’re probably the worst person I have ever met. And I once ran into Kanye West and Kim Kardashian at the Grove. Like I said before but am saying louder for the people in the back, I cannot believe I spent a whole year of my life hopelessly devoted to you and every single word you said.

“Like, I would lay awake at night, wondering how I had landed someone like you back then. When I had nothing. When I was so down about myself and if I would ever find love. And then you came in, on your white horse and I thought you were going to be my savior. But looking back, you were just looking for someone to make yourself feel better. I bet you never even loved me at all back then.”

“That’s not entirely true-” Oikawa says meekly, clearly in awe of Suga now. 

No one had ever seen Suga like this. Not even Suga himself. It is as if, years of pent-up rage, not just at Toru Oikawa, are finally being let go in one giant blast. Like one of the workers in Suga’s brain had finally had enough and sent out the tactical missiles. Target, Toru Oikawa.

“I honestly don’t even care if you loved me at all during that time. Because in the end, I loved you. I loved you so much Oikawa. I would have done anything for you.” 

Suga looks sad for just a moment, remembering how he and Oikawa’s relationship had first started. They had met in an upper-division psychology class they were taking for a quick GPA boost and had been so late that they had to sit on the lecture hall steps. And Oikawa had asked Suga if he could borrow his notes. One thing led to another and they were stealing kisses in hallways and in the back of cars. Suga had really thought Oikawa had been the one. 

But now looking at this meek, brown-haired boy in front of him. He realizes just how wrong he had been back then. And how Iwaizumi, although he will never truly forgive him, might have been the best thing to happen

“But you went and blew it. So, now I am with the actual love of my life,” he turns to Daichi and feels a single tear begin to form in his eye. He loves Daichi so much and wants him to know that even though he’s uncontrollably angry with Oikawa right now, that doesn’t mean he still cares for him. “So I guess I should thank you, Oikawa and Iwaizumi.”

“For what?” Iwaizumi asks.

“I should thank you for pushing me into the arms of Daichi Sawamura because if it hadn’t been for me walking in on you two that day, I might not have met him.” He turns back to Daichi and sighs. “Daichi is the best thing that’s ever happened to me. And nothing could ever change that.”

Suga turns back to Oikawa and Iwaizumi again, feeling rejuvenated after meeting Daichi’s eyes. “So thank you, you two. If it hadn’t been for you, none of this would have ever happened.”

“You’re welcome!” Oikawa exclaims. “Matchmaking is what I do”

“Will, you just SHUT UP!” Daichi yells. “If Suga hadn’t just laid all of that out right now, I would punch that smug face right into next week.”

“Daichi,” Suga smiles and Daichi returns it. “So, Oikawa and Iwaizumi, have a wonderful dinner and a wonderful rest of your life, together. You deserve each other. As for me, I’m going to walk out of this restaurant and not waste another second thinking about what I could have done differently back then. Because in the end, you’re just a horrible, egotistical dickwad, Oikawa, who could never love someone as much as you love yourself. And Iwaizumi, I wish you nothing but the best actually because I get it.”

“You get it?” Iwaizumi asks. “Suga, I-”

“I get how entrancing Oikawa can be. Intoxicating even. Like every word he tells you and every little drop of affirmation can nourish you for days. It’s rough. And maybe you two are made for each other. I really don’t know and I really don’t care. But what I do know is that I’m done here.”

Suga turns back to Daichi. “Daichi, I’m going to be outside. I’m sorry.” Suga begins to walk towards the door. “I love you.” He adds, quieter this time.

Suga is hit by the cold evening air when he walks out of the restaurant. He looks up at the street lamps in front of him and imagines what all that must have looked like to the rest of the people in the restaurant. He probably just looked like a raving lunatic, attacking someone who was just trying to decide what to eat. No matter which way he spins it in his head, he can’t push away the thought that he might have done the wrong thing. That making that huge scene might not have been the best idea.

But then again, he had to get all of that off his chest. It had been festering inside, unknown to him, for over three years. And no matter how much he loves Daichi, and he loves him more than he ever thought he could love another person, a part of him had still been hung up on Oikawa. A part of him that had that anger, hurt, and betrayal in every aspect of its existence. And now that he had finally laid it all out, he can feel it all begin to fade away. Like he has finally said goodbye to that part of his life.

And he smiles.

“Koushi, are you out here?” 

Suga turns around and sees Daichi standing by the door to the restaurant. “Hey, Daichi, I’m here.”

“Are you okay?” He asks Suga after he walks up to him. He wraps the blue scarf that Suga had forgotten inside around his neck. “I don’t know how you’re feeling right now but I just wanted to say I’m proud of you.”

“You’re what?” Suga asks, leaning his back on one of the street lamps. 

Out of all the possible things Daichi could have said about that whole incident, him being proud was the last possibility he had thought of. 

“You,” Daichi smiles at Suga and takes his hand. “You spoke from your heart and put that dick in his place. I mean, I personally wouldn’t have done it in a crowded restaurant like that but I also don’t know what I would have done if I was in your position.”

“Honestly, I just saw red.” Suga laughs and hugs Daichi. “And when he called you stupid for loving me, I just lost it.”

“Why that part?” Daichi asks. 

“Because I couldn’t care less what he thinks about me but when he said that, it felt like he was attacking you. And I couldn’t just sit there and listen to him do that.”

“That-” Daichi looks at Suga. “You’re incredible, Koushi.”

“Thanks,” Suga says before burying his face into Daichi’s chest. “But now that we’re outside and I’m thinking about what happened in there, I’m just so embarrassed.”

“Because of how many people saw it?”

“Yes!” Suga looks up at Daichi and laughs. “Like I just flew off the handle. And on tonight of all nights. Tonight was supposed to be special. You were going to-”

“I was going to what?” Daichi asks, his eyebrows raised.

“Nothing, never mind,” Suga says quickly. “On top of being embarrassed out of my mind, I’m disappointed that we didn’t get to have that lava cake.”

“Oh yeah,” Daichi rubs the back of his head. “How about we get something else for dessert? I don’t want to leave tonight off with that being the ending.” Daichi hums for a moment as he collects his thoughts. “How about that frozen yogurt place around here?”

“The one where they have like one hundred different toppings?” Suga asks, his eyes perking up. “I’ve always wanted to try that place!”  
“Then let’s go,” Daichi says, grabbing Suga’s hand. “It’ll just be the two of us this time, I promise.”

“And this time, there better not be anybody I’ve kissed before there.”

And so Suga and Daichi walk off down the street, their hands interlocked. When they get to the frozen yogurt shop, Suga is elated to see that there is no one inside. No one he’s kissed before at all. Daichi lets Suga go wild and get as much of the ice cream knock-off as he wants and pile on as many toppings can fit in the bowl. Which might have been a mistake when he sees how high Suga was able to pile four different flavors of frozen yogurt and about twenty different toppings. But anything for Suga.

“You know,” Daichi says before taking the first bite of his more appropriately-sized frozen yogurt with only three different toppings. “I used to work at a frozen yogurt shop when I was sixteen. We had this awful teal-colored uniform but when you’re sixteen and need a little money, you’ll do almost anything.”

“Anything?” Suga winks at a stuck-out tongue from Daichi. Suga laughs and takes his fifth spoonful of yogurt. “I would pay so much money to go back in time and see you working there. I bet you were so cute back then.”

“So, you don’t think I’m cute now?”

“Cute?” Suga looks up thoughtfully. “I don’t know if I’d call you cute.”

“Then what would you call me?”

“Let’s just say this is the wine and leftover adrenaline from the restaurant,” Suga prefaces. “But I would call you dreamy.”

“I can take that,” Daichi leans forwards and places a kiss on Suga’s forehead. “I can be dreamy and you can be cute.”

“It sounds weird when you call yourself dreamy, though.”

“Well, you’re weird,” Daichi sticks out his tongue at Suga again. The two of them laugh and go back to eating their yogurt.

“You should help me finish this,” Suga says when he’s about halfway done with his. Daichi has already finished his yogurt and Suga pushes his own closer to him.

“You’re the one who piled on all the-” 

Suga shoves a spoonful of his yogurt into Daichi’s mouth and laughs as he struggles to handle the surprise dessert. When Daichi is finished exaggerating his choking sounds, Suga sighs lightly.

“I honestly still can’t believe I went off the rails at dinner tonight,” Suga rests his head on his hands. “What’s funny is that I know Iwaizumi isn’t that bad of a guy otherwise.”

“He actually paid for our dinner,” Daichi says, looking a tad bit embarrassed himself.

“He what?” Suga’s jaw drops again. 

“When I went to pay the check before finding you outside, the waiter said that Iwaizumi had taken care of it. And when I went to confront him about it, he wouldn’t stop apologizing for ruining our night and he wouldn’t take any of my money..”

Suga shakes his head down at the table and lets out a sad laugh. “Damn it, Iwaizumi. He knows I’ll never forgive him but still tries to be a good person. I bet in another life, I could actually be friends with him. Or at least not hate him.”

“Maybe,” Daichi says before leaning back in his chair. “I’m just glad it’s all over.”

“You’re telling me,” Suga leans back in his chair as well. “It’s like I can finally close that chapter of my life for good. Thanks, Daichi.”

“For what? I didn’t know anything. That was all you.”

“For being here with me. For not leaving when my crazy comes out. For loving me.”

“You don’t need to thank me for those things. I would do those no matter what. Any day of the week.”

“Well, I’m going to thank you anyway until the day I die,” Suga says back to him. “Like for trying your best to turn this night around. And next time, I’ll make sure not to go feral.”

“You can’t promise that and I wouldn’t want you to.”

“You really do love me, don’t you?”

Suga knows he’s going to marry this man. And that next time, no matter what, he’s going to get engaged to him. He doesn’t care if all his ex-boyfriends, his little nieces, and nephews, or the Dalai Lama himself are there. He is going to get that ring from Daichi and be connected to him forever. Even though he’s only twenty-six, Suga knows that he wants to spend his entire life with Daichi Sawamura. And now that he’s let go of the shackles of his hurt past, he can finally step into that future.

Now, all he needs is for Daichi to get on one knee to finally pop the question. But preferably just for the two of them. And if he takes too long for the third and final time, he might just do it himself. 

“What do you mean you’re falling for me?” Suga asks Daichi whose deep brown eyes are still locked on him.

It feels like an eternity has passed between the two of them since Daichi’s hurried confession and also like no time at all. Like the two of them are trapped in a realm devoid of time and space, alone together. Or maybe that’s only what Suga feels as the love of his life confesses his feelings to him for the second time. Like he hadn’t done it thousands of miles away and over twenty years before. And almost every day after that.

“I meant what I said,” Daichi says coolly. “I have feelings for you. Of the romantic kind.”

“Way to make that sound weird,” Suga awkwardly laughs behind his hand. 

“Don’t laugh at me or you can just leave.”

“Wait, don’t get mad,” Suga reaches out to Daichi who turns his head away from him. Suga feels his heart begin to crack with that simple movement. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to laugh. It’s just-”

“It’s pathetic, right?” Daichi asks, once again looking at Suga.

“Pathetic?”

“That I would fall for the one person who has come to see me since I’ve been in here? Like a reverse Florence Nightingale or something.”

“I wouldn’t say that at all. It’s just…” Suga looks around the room, trying not to stare at Daichi for too long. “Sudden, is all.”

“Yeah…”

“And unexpected,” Suga says before scooting closer to Daichi. He knows that he needs to tread this next part carefully, to protect both of them. “Honestly, I’m really flattered.”

Daichi lets out a small huff of a laugh before looking back at Suga, a defeated look on his face. “You’re flattered but you don’t feel the same way. I get it.” He gestures to his room and then back to himself. “What was I thinking? Why would someone like you fall for someone like me?” He lets out another mirthless laugh before dropping his head. “I’m stuck in here after all and of all New York is out there waiting.”

“Hey,” Suga reaches out to him but he stops when he sees Daichi’s expression. “I don’t like the way you’re talking about yourself right now.”

“I’m serious, Suga. I’m pathetic. I’m bedridden and have nothing to offer you except being a willing listener to a story that I’m not convinced is even a book you’ve read. For all I know, you might have just been talking about the story of you and your husband. This was a mistake.”

“Daichi-”

“Suga, can you please leave?” Daichi looks up at him, the beginnings of tears in his eyes. And not the happy tears that Suga is used to seeing from him. “And take your flowers with you?”

“Please don’t kick me out, Daichi,” Suga replies, trying his hardest to keep his own tears in check. “I want to be here with you.”

“But why? Why would you want to be here with me?” Daichi asks with an unmistakable desperation in his voice. “Can you please just answer that for me? Why do you want to be here? Do you pity me? Do you think that my life is so sad and pathetic that you-”

As Suga’s lips meet Daichi’s, all he can think of is how much he’s wanted to kiss him since he’s been awake. With every breath he’s taken while in this hospital room with him, with every sentence he’s finished, with every glance he’s given him, Suga has wanted to feel his lips again and again and again. That familiar feeling of being connected with Daichi that he’s become so accustomed to these past two decades. That feeling that he couldn’t have even dreamed of when he was an adolescent pining for the boys on TV and couldn’t imagine living without ever since he experienced it with him in that dive bar.

And when Daichi deepens the kiss and places his hand on Suga’s cheek, Suga can’t help but smile as they stay there, their lips moving with each other as they desperately try to memorize this feeling. And even though it hasn’t even been a minute since he took this leap, he can’t remember what it felt like to be without Daichi’s lips and hands and body and soul for this long. And he can’t imagine not having it again when they inevitably pull apart, because that’s the thing about time. It’s curious and mystical and waits for no one.

But despite the ticking and tocking of the clock above them, Suga resolves to keep fighting for Daichi so that one day, soon, he can come home with him, memories or not, and they can be together again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little shorter of a chapter this time but don't worry - we're getting to the really good parts :) 
> 
> Feel free to like, comment, or share with your other DaiSuga kinnies/simps :)


	6. Tying You to Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Friday everyone! Who's ready for so much fluff that it might make you sick??? Thanks for reading this far and I'm so grateful for all of you!

“I… was not expecting that,” Daichi says, the first one to pull away. He smiles before trying to hide his reddening cheeks.

“Neither was I,” Suga replies as he pulls up Daichi’s face to look at him, blush and all. He’s made Daichi blush before, in the past and the present, but he’s missed this specific blush. The blush that reminds him that Daichi loves him and likes the way Suga’s lips feel on his. The blush that he could say is all because of and for him. “But I’d do it again in heartbeat.” 

Suga intertwines his fingers in Daichi’s and instantly remembers how they feel in his. Like his were made to fit perfectly in Daichi’s calloused hands, roughened by the years. But soft and beautiful all the same. 

“That was one way to make me stop talking,” Daichi says as he bends his fingers with Suga’s. “And I hope it means you might have fallen for me too.”

“I guess you could say that.”

“I don’t know what you mean by ‘I guess’, but I don’t really care anymore,” Daichi says before inching his head closer to Suga’s “But could we maybe try that again?”

“Look at Mr. Grey’s Anatomy over here,” Suga laughs before closing the distance. 

“I mean,” Daichi says as he takes a breath in between kisses. “I don’t think I’m ready for _that_ kind of relationship with you yet… I have to take you on a real date once I’m out of here first.”

“I’m looking forward to it,” Suga replies before sitting back up and straightening out his back. “Where would you take me?”

“Well, given that we are in New York City and I don’t remember anything about anything that I might have done here, I can only really offer the super touristy stuff. You know things you see on TV.” Daichi puts up his hand and begins to count off. “So, the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty, does Central Perk exist?”  
  
“On second thought,” Suga cuts him off and squeezes his hand. He refuses to let go of Daichi’s hand until he absolutely must. “I can pick the date spot and you can just focus on getting out of here.”

“That sounds like an amazing plan.” Daichi’s eyes trail down from Suga’s face to his left hand. The smile on his face disappears as his eyes zone in on that band of gold, the gold he had once been so excited to give to Suga. “But before we continue with _this_ -” He points to them both. “And believe me, I want to continue _this_. I need you to be one hundred percent honest with me about _that_.” He holds Suga’s left hand and rubs the golden ring. “Please.”

Suga hopes against hope that by touching that ring, the one that had meant so much to both of them for so long, Daichi might remember that day. That day over fifteen years ago when he had presented it to him with his entire heart and soul. And maybe if Daichi remembers how he felt then, tears in both of their eyes, Suga might not have to lie to him anymore. Because telling him the truth might be too much to handle, for both of them.

“It’s a beautiful afternoon, don’t you think, Daichi?”

“It’s even more beautiful because you're here, Koushi.” Daichi winks.

“You-” Suga laughs at Daichi before playfully slapping his shoulder. “If you’re too cheesy, I won’t be able to enjoy the actual cheese we brought.”

Suga looks up at the afternoon sun, his hands covering the tops of his eyes. He takes a breath and he lays out the picnic blanket on the grass. Daichi takes out the wrapped charcuterie board and the wine they brought. 

“Are we even supposed to drink wine here?” Suga asks as Daichi pours his glass.

“I won’t tell if you don’t,” Daichi winks at him before filling his own glass.

“Who knew the firefighter, recipient of a Medal of Valor, had such a naughty streak?” Suga laughs before he takes a sip of his wine.

“You’ve known me for three years and have barely scratched the surface,” Daichi replies before suggestively raising his eyebrows.

“Well, let’s find out.” Suga places his wine glass tenderly on the blanket and begins his slow crawl to Daichi. In a second, he’s straddling him and looking directly in his eyes. “I would totally rip your clothes off right now if we weren’t in a public park my students come to all the time.”

“Yeah, maybe we can save that for later,” Daichi laughs before giving Suga a kiss on the cheek Suga tapped for him. “Besides, it’s not often we have a weekday off together.”

Suga scoots back to his previous spot and thinks for a second on Daichi’s last comment. Suga always liked the fact that Daichi is a firefighter, fighting to defend them from all types of fires and assisting first responders and saving cats from trees. Like he had said the first day they met, it makes Daichi at least one hundred, maybe a thousand times, hotter than a normal person like him. But when it comes to his shifts at work, they could be all over the place. And when coupled with Suga’s very regular work schedule of 7am-4pm at his elementary school, it could get difficult to schedule time together outside of their time living in the same apartment.

Not that spending time making lunches with Daichi at home and brushing his teeth with him and cleaning the apartment with him had become boring. On the contrary, Suga loves doing those things with him because he knows that in the end, their life would be filled with small, mundane tasks like that and that doing them with the love of his life is something he shouldn’t take for granted. But on the other hand, he knows that if he and Daichi aren’t able to go out together, those small tasks could become their entire life and he doesn’t want that to happen. Not yet anyway.

So when special days like this where his school is shut down because of a random power outage (don’t drive into power lines because you’re filming a TikTok video, kids) and Daichi was able to switch shifts with a coworker who needed to get out of his house (in-laws can be fun), Suga knows they have to capitalize on them.

Which is how Suga and Daichi ended up here at Griffith Park on a wonderfully ordinary Wednesday afternoon, with a picnic basket, blanket, and nothing too special on their agenda. Just time to spend with each other, away from their apartment.

“Wasn’t it funny what the waitress said to you at lunch today?” Daichi asks as he hands Suga a cracker topped with gruyere and salami.

“It was weird for sure,” Suga says after finishing the cracker. “Like we’ve been to The Lakes café so many times before and she was bold enough to say I looked like an American singer.”

“Well, she did have a British accent. Maybe that’s just something they say over there?” 

“I highly doubt that,” Suga says as he leans back on his hands and stretches out his legs. “And besides, we won the war so they should go back to where they came from. We didn't throw tea into the harbor for them to just come over here.”

“‘They’ being British people?” Daichi asks as he mimics Suga’s position and places his hand mere millimeters from his. “And I’m pretty sure our people had nothing to do with the Tea Party because you know, we’re both Japanese.”

“That’s besides the point!” Suga says enthusiastically. “Her being British aside, aren’t we in America? Did she have to say I looked like an ‘American’ singer? Wouldn’t ‘singer’ have been enough? And what singer do I even-”

Daichi stuffs another cracker into Suga’s mouth and laughs as Suga tries not to choke on it. Suga sputters for a moment before swallowing it all and letting out an exasperated breath.

“You know you could have just kissed me to shut me up,” Suga says as he wipes away any remaining cracker dust from his mouth. “I like that a lot better.”

“Yeah, I know,” Daichi says as he ruffles Suga’s hair. “But I wanted to try something new. You know, to keep you guessing.”

“That’s my job,” Suga says after sticking his tongue out. He tilts his head and squints to get a better look at Daichi with the warm sunlight behind him. He lets out a contented sigh and grabs a grape. 

“Open wide!” Suga lobs the grape right into Daichi’s mouth and gives him two thumbs up for catching it. 

“Cute,” Daichi says before reaching for Suga to scoot over to him. “Can you believe we’ve been together for over three years?”

“Time, wondrous time, Gave me the blues and then purple pink skies,” Suga says as he nestles against Daichi’s chest.

“There you go again, being all poetic and stuff. Are you sure you’re not supposed to be a writer or something?”

“I thought about writing once. I thought I could be the next Hemingway or John Green but apparently, you actually have to put in effort to write a book that is halfway decent.”

“I would read whatever you write though.” Daichi twirls a few strands of Suga’s hair and rubs his fingers through it.

It’s just one of those things that Daichi does without thinking that Suga can’t get enough of. Like how when he’s washing dishes, Daichi will hum whatever tune in his head and pretend like the sponge is a guitar pick. Or how whenever they’re lying down together after a long day, Daichi will trail his fingers up and down Suga’s back, like he’s trying to memorize every curve and spot.

“Maybe I’ll write a book about us,” Suga says before closing his eyes. “The story of us, but I’ll change names and dates. Maybe I could call you Daisuke and I could call myself Kousuke or something.”

“Those names are kind of derivative don’t you think?”

“That part doesn’t matter as long as the story stays true to our love,” Suga says, slapping his palm over his heart. “Do you think we’d make a good love story?”

Daichi stops playing with Suga’s hair abruptly, causing him to flinch a little. Daichi stiffens before motioning for Suga to turn towards him. He puts both of his hands on Suga’s face and lightly smiles.

“Do you remember that day when we first said we loved each other?” Daichi asks.

“How could I forget it?” Suga places one of his hands on Daichi’s and squeezes it. “And it was right there too.” Suga points up to Griffith Observatory, standing just close enough for both of them to see. “It feels like a lifetime ago but also like it was only yesterday.”

Suga closes his eyes and feels Daichi place his forehead on his. In an instant, they’re brought back to that perfectly normal day, only three years before. 

“You know, I’ve lived in LA for over five years, and this is only the second time I’ve been here,” Suga says, spinning around as he talks. “And the first time was for a class, so that doesn’t really count.”

“I thought Griffith Observatory is like a super famous place though?” Daichi asks, trying his hardest to keep up with him. 

They had only been dating for about a month. And in that time, Suga had made it his mission to be Daichi’s unofficial Los Angeles tour guide. Each weekend, Suga had brought Daichi to at least one touristy Los Angeles attraction and one more local-approved place. From Grand Central Market where Suga introduced him to overpriced “artisan” grilled cheese sandwiches to a speakeasy where the entrance to the bar is a bedroom with a trick door under the bed. And from a picturesque hike in Runyon Canyon Park where Suga took an obligatory hiking selfie to show all of his many (not so many) Instagram followers that he does outdoorsy things to The Last Bookstore where Daichi paid for all of Suga’s books, hardcover books, which was enough for Suga to ask him to be his boyfriend again.

“Sure, but because I live here, I guess I never made a huge effort to go to many touristy places. At least not since like my first year of college.” 

Suga thinks back to his first year of undergrad at UCLA where he had tried his hardest to go to as many places in LA given that everything was so new to him. Needless to say, after his first quarter he mostly just frequented the places around the campus. There just wasn’t enough time in the day back then. But now he is determined to make up for that lost time with Daichi.

“Well, you could have fooled me,” Daichi replies. “It honestly felt like I was in your class, the way you showed me around the observatory.” 

“Well, I’m glad you’re not in my class because that would mean that you would be like six years old and I am not down for that.” Suga laughs and grabs Daichi’s hand.

“You know that’s not what I meant. But seriously, I feel like when it comes to all of this LA stuff, I wouldn’t know what to do without you.”

“Ooo, careful there, Daichi,” Suga says before placing his finger on Daichi’s torso. “If I didn't know any better, I’d think that was a confession.”

“A confession?”

Suga laughs and grabs Daichi’s other hand. He dodges Daichi’s question and asks his own. “Have you seen Valentine’s Day?”

“The one that has like every white celebrity under the sun?” Daichi asks before he follows Suga to a lookout that overlooks the rest of Griffith Park.

“Hey, it had George Lopez and Jamie Foxx,” Suga tries to refute. 

“And then like twenty other white people but okay.”  
  
“Yeah, you’re right,” Suga relents before resting his arms on the railing. “Well, I watched it seven time in theaters when it first came out.”

“Seven times? I knew you were crazy before this, but wow.”

“If you think that’s crazy, you have another coming for you,” Suga laughs before sighing. “Well, nineteen-year-old me watched it so many times because back then. I was so obsessed with being in a relationship that a movie with like thirty different love stories, was just amazing.”

“Well, what would nineteen-year-old you say if he saw you now?” Daichi asks before wrapping his arm around his shoulder. “Because I see twenty-three year old you and think you’re pretty great.”

“You really like saying the right thing, huh?” Suga laughs before blowing a strand of hair from his face. “Well, he’d probably ask me if I could see you and I as a potential storyline in the movie.”

“And can you see us being in it? Would you know Jennifer Garner’s character at her school or something?”

“Yeah, I can,” Suga says before turning to look at Daichi. “And you _know_ I would be best friends with her. Have you seen her hair? Immaculate.” Suga laughs behind his hand. “And maybe you would be picking up your niece from my class and our eyes would meet and there would be that spark. You know.”

“I do like the sound of meeting you in your first-grade classroom a little better than a dive bar, that’s for sure.”

“Hey, I happen to love my $4 drinks and bottomless onion rings and fries. Thank you very much.”

“Pretty sure they’re only bottomless because Michimiya can’t bear to charge your card after your third plate.”

“Whatever, as long as I don’t get charged, it’s fine by me.” Suga laughs with Daichi before continuing. “But back to our movie, maybe you would leave with your niece and you would ask her so many things about me that the next day, she would tell me that you like like me.”

“Oh, so now my niece is Cupid? I think I would be way more forward than that and ask you out right then and there.”

“In front of my kids?” Suga places his hand on his chest, in shock. “How scandalous.”

“Well, I wouldn’t want to waste another second. You know, if we were in the movie.”

“In the movie of course,” Suga turns around to look back at the LA skyline. “I would say yes of course and we would go on a date and you would take me on a ride in your firetruck and let me wear your hat and kiss me as that Fairytale song plays in the background.”

“That sounds like an amazing way to have our movie plotline go,” Daichi says as he rests his head on Suga’s shoulder. “I’d watch that seven times in theaters for sure.”

“You kid, but nineteen year old me was just excited to see so much love on screen. On top of Patrick Dempsey and Bradley Cooper and Eric Dane - don’t even get me started on that gay scene - and-”

“We get it, you like all of the basic white guys,” Daichi laughs as Suga rolls his eyes and sticks out his tongue.

“Oh of course, I’m not partial to white guys. I’m with you, right?” 

“And I’m going to take that as a compliment,” Daichi says with a smile on his face. “I’m not saying that I don’t think those actors aren’t attractive either. Of course, Jennifer Garner and Jessica Alba aren’t anything to scoff at.”

“Oh, yeah you’re bi, right?” Suga asks. 

They had had their obligatory coming out conversation on their second date, once they had become just a bit more comfortable with each other. At least more comfortable than sharing one plate of chicken wings and a slightly awkward sober dinner where they were still getting over their first date jitters. 

Suga had told Daichi how he finally told his family he was gay one random dinner when he was fifteen because he totally knew they knew and everything went pretty well. There were some tears shed but only because they were so happy that he was able to get that off of his chest, which was actually pretty uncommon for both a traditional Japanese family and a family in Tennessee. When it comes to coming out stories, Suga’s was actually pretty tame and painless compared to most people’s, something he never forgets especially when he is exchanging with other people in the LGBTQ+ community. Not many people are that lucky.

However for Daichi, he had kept his feelings tucked away for a long time after discovering he liked guys as much as he liked girls. It wasn’t that he was ashamed of it because he realized pretty quickly that what he was feeling was completely natural. But when it came to his traditional Japanese parents who had their entire future and hopes riding on him, he was more than a little apprehensive to drop that bomb. And when he had finally gathered the strength to come out to his parents after years of soul searching and restless nights, it had been too late. They both had been involved in a tragic train crash before his eighteenth birthday and he wasn’t ever able to tell them about that part of his life. Something he never truly could get over but had somewhat come to terms with, over five years out.

“I mean I like girls and guys so I guess?” Daichi replies. “I guess I’ve never been one for labels but if I were to take one, I guess Bi would be it.”

“If you don’t want to take on a label, you don’t have to. That is, as long as you keep dating me.”

“What’s that supposed to mean, Suga?”

“It just means that as long as you’re dating me, you’re not gay or bi. You’re,” Suga points to himself and smiles. “Suga-sexual.”

Daichi’s eyes widen, seemingly at a loss for words. “You say weird and quirky things like that and you make up movie roles for yourself and watch movies seven times in theaters and it’s just so different than anything I’m used to.” He laughs softly at Suga, letting the crinkles around his eyes show up. “I swear, you’re unlike anyone I’ve ever met.”

“I’m going to take that as a huge compliment too, by the way,” Suga replies, his stomach doing a mini backflip as he tries to count the number of lines around Daichi’s eyes. “And honestly, I can’t believe I just said that. You’d think I would have had at least one drink before saying something like that. But nope. Completely sober.”

“Well, I guess it’s just a part of your charm.”

“So you think I’m charming?” Suga flutters his eyelashes at Daichi. “Would you say I’m your Prince Charming?”

“I wouldn’t say that.”

“Hey!” Suga crosses his arms and pouts. “You’re totally supposed to say yes.”

“I mean isn’t Prince Charming usually pretty useless? Like he didn’t even recognize Cinderella after dancing with her all night and in Shrek 2 he was really dumb and an actual villain.”

“I never once imagined I’d be on a date with someone who brings up Shrek 2,” Suga says before smiling. 

“Don’t tell me you don’t like Shrek. Because if you don’t, we might have a big problem.”

Suga smiles and whispers into Daichi’s ear. “Wanna come back to my swamp after this?” The two of them laugh before Suga starts again. “The Shrek film series is and will always be one of the greatest cinematic achievements of the 21st century. But back to me, I forgive you for not calling me your Prince Charming because you bring up some excellent points.”

“Maybe you can be like my Jennifer Garner or Eric Dane and I’m your Ashton Kutcher or Bradley Cooper,” Daichi offers.

Suga chuckles into his hand before speaking again. “While I do love both of those stories in the movie, I think I have a better idea. But first,” Suga takes out his phone and scrolls until he finds the song he’s looking for. He hands Daichi an earbud and takes the other one for himself. “So we can cement today’s date like in Valentine’s Day,” he extends his hand to Daichi and tries not to squeal when he takes it and he feels a tiny electric spark. “May I have this dance?”

“It would be my pleasure,” Daichi says before bowing his head. 

The two of them sway with each other, as that one song about today being a fairytale from the movie plays in their ears, for only them to hear. Even though there are still some people around them, the two of them don’t care at all. At that moment, it’s just the two of them and the LA sunset. And when Suga closes his eyes, he’s with Daichi in that movie that had once been just a far-off unattainable dream to him, a literal fairytale. He’s swaying with Daichi as the scene pans to all of LA and to every single person who is with the person that they love. He’s where he could only have imagined he’d be as he was alone in those darkened theaters, wanting what was on that screen.

“You know, Suga,” Daichi starts, after the song ends and the credits roll in Suga’s mind.

Suga opens his eyes to see Daichi’s soft smile. The lights around the Observatory begin to turn on one by one as the night sky begins to overpower the light blue of the daytime. As if a Hollywood director and cinematographer had planned for all of this to happen all at once. All they would need would be a romantic instrumental backing track and they could be on the way to being the Number one romance movie in the nation. No, the world.

“What, Daichi?”

“I think instead of Prince Charming, Jennifer Garner, or Ashton Kutcher, we can just be Daichi and Suga to each other. I like you better than any of them anyway.”

“I like the way you think,” Suga replies, a small grin on his face. “But, I don’t think so.”

“Wait, what?” Daichi looks taken aback, maybe even a little hurt.

“You’ll be Daichi to me,” Suga pulls Daichi into a tight embrace. He leans his head on Daichi’s shoulder and smiles softly to himself. “But you can call me Koushi.”

Daichi takes a long, deep breath. “Koushi.”

“I love the way you say my name,” Suga whispers to him. 

“I love the way it feels to say it.”

Suga closes his eyes and hugs Daichi tighter, like if he lets go then Daichi might fly away. He doesn’t want this singular moment to ever end. Is this what he had been looking for his entire life? Is this what all those poets and songwriters always allude to? This feeling of being so truly intoxicated by another person, that nothing else in the world matters.

“Koushi,” Daichi says again, almost a whisper. “I know it’s only been a month, but this has been one of the best months of my life. Having you show me around LA and into this little bubble that is your life and-”

“I love you,” Suga interrupts him, unable to hold it in any longer. 

He had wanted to say those three words to him on the first night they met. Sure, he had thrown those words around carelessly in his past and whenever he was home alone, he would practice saying them to Daichi. And he had mentioned to Michimiya that he might actually be in love with him. But now, under the inkling of stars in the dusk sky above them and the shine of the light posts, it feels right. 

“Way to steal my thunder. I wanted to say it first.” Daichi says, a bit dejected, but happy nonetheless. “But, I love you too.”

“Don’t worry, you can say it first every time we see each other or when we wake up or-”

Daichi cuts Suga off with a kiss, sealing their words and cementing this moment. It’s a normal kiss. Not unlike ones they’ve had before. But Suga can feel that after this, nothing will ever actually be the same. Every single bone in his body, every nerve on his skin, had become electrified by this one, ordinary yet extraordinary kiss. And he knows that in this moment, overlooking the City of Angels, his whole life has begun to change.

“Today really was a fairytale, Daichi.”

“You know, I kept the ticket stub from that date,” Daichi tells Suga when they open their eyes again. He pulls out his wallet and shows Suga the entrance ticket to the Observatory from three years prior. “It’s a little worse for wear, but I couldn’t get myself to throw it away after that day.”

“That’s one of the sweetest things I’ve ever heard,” Suga says before dropping his head. “But also makes me feel kind of bad because I didn’t keep mine.”

“You don’t need to feel bad about it!” Daichi shakes his hands at Suga, trying to make him feel better. “It’s just a piece of paper after all.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right. Besides, I did keep the gifts you got me then.” Suga takes out his phone and shows him his phone case. Attached to the bottom of the case, are two small charms, two circles of space with constellations in them. The constellations Gemini and Capricorn. “I remember seeing these charms and thinking they were cutest things.”

“And I remember your face when you saw them,” Daichi follows up as he touches them. “It’s funny, I never was into the whole Astrology thing when I was younger but when you went on that whole spiel about how the stars are like guides to our lives and our personalities are based on them, I couldn’t help but start to believe a little.”

“I’m glad I was able to convert you a little back then,” Suga says as he flicks the charms lightly, letting the glow in the dark stars catch some of the light. Hopefully, by night time, they’ll have enough stored light in them to shine like they had back then. “I remember going home that night and looking up our compatibility chart.” He laughs before looking back at Daichi.

“What did it say?”

“It said that we are actually kind of incompatible, if you can believe it.” Suga giggles before leaning back on Daichi’s stomach. “Because you’re an earth sign and I’m an air sign and you’re responsible and I’m kind of crazy. You know, normal things.”

“That’s… not what I was expecting.”

“Neither was I!” Suga laughs as he plays with the charms a little more. “I was so disappointed! Like I thought I had finally found the one.”

“But it’s been three years…” Daichi squints his eyes at Suga. “What are you saying?”

Suga boops Daichi’s nose and laughs. “So I decided right then and there, that I would fight my fate. The stars are sometimes just stars. And although I will always believe in Astrology because Gemini is so fitting for me, I will also always believe that you are the one for me.” Suga nestles his head more into Daichi’s chest and closes his eyes for a second. “Who are the stars to say that we’re not meant for each other? We’re not Romeo and Juliet, after all.”

“Thank God, we’re not Romeo and Juliet. I’m not trying to kill myself on accident because I think you killed yourself. Too much work.” Daichi laughs as he rubs Suga’s hair, ignoring the pout on his face. “And in the end, every star we see in the sky is already dead, which is a little sad if you think about it, and they do say dead men tell no tales…” Daichi ponders before poking Suga’s forehead. “I’m glad you decided to fight your fate, Merida.”

“‘If you had the chance to change your fate, wouldya?’” Suga asks in the worst Scottish accent he could muster up. 

“If I was Scottish, I think I would be super offended right now,” Daichi laughs before resting his head on Suga’s. “But, if that fate took me from you, I would change it in a heartbeat.”

They stay there for a long while, the two of them laying on that picnic blanket in Griffith Park. The light breeze laps against them as it brings the sounds of children flying kites and bubbles being blown. The buzzing of honey bees flying from flower to flower and the chirps of the songbirds in the trees keep the two of them in this peaceful moment. Just them, nature, and their time.

“Ooo, it’s getting kind of chilly,” Suga says as he rubs his forearms. “I can go get my coat from the car.”

“Wait, no take mine,” Daichi says he takes off his black Kurasano City jacket. 

Apparently, when he had helped out the local high school volleyball team when he was in undergrad, they gave him a jacket of his very own. Of course, Suga had been eyeing this jacket ever since he saw it because who wouldn’t want their boyfriend’s jacket to call their own?

“Are you sure?” Suga asks, hoping Daichi won’t rescind his offer. “I wouldn’t want to put you out.”

“I’m alright,” Daichi responds as he helps Suga into the jacket. It fits almost perfectly, although just a little long on the sleeves. Which is perfect for a boyfriend jacket. “I’d much rather you be warm right now anyway.”

“Why right now?” Suga asks as he rubs the jacket sleeves all over his body.

“Because I wanted to ask you something and you need to be comfortable for it.”

Suga feels his heart begin to beat faster. And his palms begin to sweat. Could this be it? He had honestly forgotten all about the fact that Daichi had a ring and that any moment, he might pop the question. But given the past two tries, Suga had imagined that it would happen when they were in suits in a beautiful restaurant or on a harbor cruise or a horse drawn carriage or at the top of a mountain. Not exactly on a picnic blanket in a park as the sun is beginning to set on the horizon.

But maybe this is exactly how it’s supposed to happen. Without him expecting it hours beforehand. 

“What is it, Daichi?” Suga asks, his voice beginning to tremble just a little.

“Koushi,” Daichi says, placing one of his hands on Suga’s face. He smiles. “I’ve been trying to ask you this for so many weeks. Well, I’ve been wanting to ask you this for a long time actually.” He rubs the back of his head and laughs nervously. “But every time I was going to start, something would go wrong.”

Suga wants to say something. Like “well maybe you shouldn’t have tried to ask me in Michimiya’s apartment in front of the Miya twins” and “who could have known that Oikawa was going to come in and ruin everything?” But instead, all he can do is smile with his mouth closed and try to stop his eyes from watering too much.

“But, people do say ‘third time’s the charm’, so here goes.” 

Daichi gets down to one knee. He takes a short breath and pulls out that notorious little black velvet box from his pocket. Before he opens it, he starts again. “Koushi Sugawara, I’m about to get super emotional and mushy so please don’t laugh.”

Suga shakes his head, still at a loss for words. 

“I know we’re not in suits like I had wanted us to be, but you’re in my jacket and I’m wearing my favorite shirt that you bought for me so this will have to do.” Daichi chuckles a little to himself before continuing. “When I first flew into Los Angeles over three years ago, I had really had no idea what I was doing besides starting a new job, halfway across the world. I knew nobody and was pretty much alone. But something that night pulled me onto that tiny street and into that rusty looking dive bar. Like a tiny invisible string pulling me closer and closer to this incredibly forward and seemingly self-assured guy with gray -no - silver hair who came onto me so strong that I couldn’t help myself but fall deeply and madly in love with him.

“And on that random Tuesday night, I knew that something amazing had happened. Like I had met my, and please excuse my cheese, my soulmate. And every day after that, when we would go on little adventures around LA or just lounge around in PJs with Sailor Moon in the background, was and is still so magical. Waking up next to you every day, and being able to watch you sleep so peacefully, has been one of the greatest things I have ever and probably will ever experience in my life.

“And I want to be able to do that from today to tomorrow and every day after that until the end of time.” Daichi clears his throat and opens the box. In it is a golden band, shining ever so slightly with the fading afternoon sun. “So, Koushi Sugawara, will you do me the honor of spending the rest of our lives together as my husband and making me the happiest man alive?”

“It’s beautiful,” Suga lets out, able to find those two words before he begins to actually lose it. He can’t get his eyes off the ring, completely blown away from the gold in front of him. He can’t wait to put it on and then get Daichi a matching ring and show it off to everyone in his life. It’s finally happening.

“Koushi? Did you hear me?” Daichi asks, waving his free hand in front of Suga’s face, trying to not let his voice tremble too much.

Suga looks up at Daichi, his smile reaching both of his ears. The beauty mark by his left eye is almost completely hidden by the crinkles of his eyes from the smile. He isn’t even entirely sure he’s ever smiled this hard before in his life. But he has also never been this happy, ecstatic, overjoyed, every synonym of happy in the English, Japanese, and gay dictionary, before.

“Of course, I heard you,” Suga replies, sucking in his tears of joy. He wants to be able to see Daichi, unobscured, for at least a few more moments. “And my answer is yes. One hundred times yes. A million times yes. Today. Tomorrow. And every day after that.” 

“Yes?” Daichi asks one last time before taking the ring out of its box. “Can I put this on you? Before my hands start to shake too much?”

“If you don’t, I might just put it on myself,” Suga says, throwing his hand out for Daichi. 

With one smooth motion, Daichi pushes the ring onto Suga’s left ring finger. It fits perfectly. Suga knows he never wants to take this ring off. It feels so perfect on his finger. Like it was meant to be there ever since he was born. 

“We’re engaged,” Suga exclaims as he admires the back of his hand. Where once his fingers were bare, a golden ring takes its rightful place. “Daichi, we’re-”

“I love you so much, Koushi!” Daichi says before wrapping Suga in a tight embrace. Tighter than he’s ever done before. And he lifts Suga up off the ground and spins him around, like a little kid. “You don’t know how happy I am right now!” Daichi slows down and looks Suga in the eyes. “You- you’re the love of my life, Koushi.”

“Wait, Daichi, are you crying?” Suga asks when he sees Daichi rub his eyes. He offers Daichi his sleeve and wipes his eyes for him. “I’m the one who’s supposed to cry here.”

“I- I- I’m just so happy, Koushi,” Daichi says before collapsing into Suga’s outstretched arms. “For the longest time, I was alone. Even when my parents were alive, they were always working and it was just me and volleyball and my studies. I had friends, sure, but I always felt alone. But now, when I look at you, I’m not alone anymore.” Daichi sighs and holds onto Suga tighter. “I never want to let you go.”

“I don’t want you to,” Suga repeats to him, resting his head on Daichi’s. “I’m so glad I’m here with you and you’re not alone anymore.”

“You know that one Winnie the Pooh quote? The one about living for a hundred years?” Daichi asks after he is able to breathe steadily again. 

“‘If you live to be one hundred, I want to be one hundred minus one day-” Suga starts, trying his best to recall that one line.

“‘So I would never have to live a day without you,’” Daichi finishes for him, pulling back from Suga. He wipes his eyes one last time and smiles. “That quote stuck with me after reading that like almost two decades ago, and when I see you, I finally understand why Winnie would say that.”

“It’s not that fair though,” Suga says. “What if I don’t want to live without you?”

“Maybe we can go at the same time then. Like in _The Notebook_.”

“Now that, I can get behind,” Suga tells him before lifting his engagement ring again. “I love this ring so much. It’s better than I ever could have imagined.”

“It’s actually engraved,” Daichi says, reaching out for Suga’s hand. He slowly takes off the ring and flips it over. “Here.”

Suga leans forward and looks at the underside of the ring. In beautiful cursive, it reads: DaiSuga. “It’s perfect. You remembered.”

“How could I forget? You wouldn’t stop going on and on about how amazing our names went together. Even though I don’t call you Suga anymore.”

“And I never want to hear you call me that again, unless it’s in the context of DaiSuga,” Suga says before rubbing the ring. He can’t wait to have this feeling of having Daichi’s ring on his hand memorized forever.

“I like the way Koushi sounds more anyway,” Daichi says before wrapping his arms around Suga’s back again. He rests his chin on Suga’s shoulders and sighs. “I’m glad I was finally able to ask you to marry me though. If it didn’t work this time, I don’t know what I would have done.”

“I’m glad you finally figured it out too,” Suga replies. “It took you long enough.”

“Wait what do you mean ‘long enough’?” Daichi asks before scooting back from Suga and looking him directly in the eyes. “What did you know?”

“Well…” Suga starts before looking over to the side, trying not to meet Daichi’s piercing brown eyes. “You kinda sorta told me you would propose to me before…”

“Wait, when did I do that? I don’t remember ever telling you that.”

“Do you remember when you first met my brothers? Back in Nashville when…”

“Oh my god, when I totally blacked out?” Daichi asks, looking down at the ground. “I told you that I was going to propose to you?”

Suga takes a moment to remember exactly what blacked out, twenty-three year old Daichi said back then. How flushed his cheeks were from the alcohol coursing through his body and most likely also from what he had been saying. Looking at the Daichi before him, his fiancé, he can see how similar they actually are. Both of them are madly in love with him and it makes him even more madly in love with him back.

“You told me that you wanted to wait until you had money saved up so you propose to me with the most beautiful, most amazing, special-est ring of all time and that I shouldn’t propose to you because you really wanted to do it,” Suga tells him. “Which was fine with me given that I was the one who said ‘I love you’ first.”

“Ahh, man,” Daichi drops his head and laughs. “I really wanted it to be a surprise though!” He looks back up at Suga with a weak smile. “Were you at least a little surprised?”

“Way more than your last two attempts that’s for sure.”

“Wait, you even knew about those?” Daichi drops his head again, totally defeated. “I’m really bad at this surprising you thing, aren’t I?”

Suga places his hand on Daichi’s shoulder and chuckles. “Let’s just say that I’m glad you surprised me today. It was perfect. Way better than it would have been those other two times that’s for sure.”

“What was wrong then?”

“Well, for the first proposal,” Suga begins to count off on his hand. “One, you tried to propose to me at a game night which is a little tacky. Two, it was going to be in front of our friends who I adore but also I wouldn’t want to have shared this moment with. And three, I also happened to have kissed all three of those friends before which usually doesn’t matter to me but when it comes to being proposed to by the love of my life, it really does.”

“That… makes a lot of sense. I was really dumb back then, wasn’t I? In my defense, I thought you might enjoy getting to show off the fact that you’re engaged to your best friends right away.”

“Oh, you got me there,” Suga says, extending his left hand for both of them to look at. “You know the first thing I’m going to do is post this on literally every social media account I have and spend the next couple of days only talking about this.” He turns to look at Daichi and smiles. “But I’m glad you got to actually propose to me, just the two of us. You were able to say all those amazing things about us that might have been weird if other people were here.”

“Looking at it that way,” Daichi says as he places his hand under his chin. “You have a really good point. But the restaurant wouldn’t have been bad though, right? If _they_ hadn’t shown up?”

Suga sighs. “I’m not going to lie, I was so ready for you to propose to me there. The food, the ambience, the suits. It was all so perfect. Until they showed up and I lost it.” Suga chuckles. “I still can’t believe my rant ended up going viral on TikTok. I’m just glad my students are too young to really be exposed to that because that… could have been bad.”

“Oh, yeah,” Daichi laughs. “I remember some of my buddies at work kept showing me that video asking what happened and us laughing it off.” Daichi places his hand on Suga’s shoulder. “But when I see that video, all I see is my amazing boyfriend - no - My amazing fiancé standing up for himself and fighting to defend his and my honor. It’s one of the many reasons I love you.”

“Thanks, Daichi,” Suga says before resting his head on his shoulder. “You honestly couldn’t have picked a better day or moment to ask me to marry you. We’re so close to the place we first told each other we loved each other and the sun is setting and everything is just so beautiful right now.” He looks up at Daichi and places his hand on his cheek. “I feel like the luckiest man in the world.”

“You can’t feel that way. Because I am the luckiest man in the world.” 

Daichi stops Suga from replying by kissing him. With a tender force that Suga had never felt from Daichi before. Not in the entire three years they’ve been together. It’s almost as if Daichi is scared Suga might fly away this time. But he has to know that no matter where Daichi goes, Suga will follow. He’ll follow him to the end of the earth, the far reaches of the sky, and into the unknown of space if he needs to. And now that they’re finally on the road to being each other’s husbands, Suga knows in every fiber of his being that Daichi would do that too.

As the lights around the park begin to turn on one by one, Suga and Daichi look out over the grass and the trees and the LA skyscrapers and the small inkling of stars and into what will be the rest of their life. Together.

Suga smiles as he watches Daichi eat what is now his third onigiri with the same ravenous and elated look he always had before. Sometimes when Daichi had been so engrossed in his meal, Suga would just watch him as he chewed or slurped and think it was the cutest thing in the world. Like Daichi was five or six, eating whatever his parents had made for him or maybe, in another life, and eating a homemade bento box by someone who had a crush on him. And Suga would, of course, be the one who had the crush, hanging onto every bite and every sound of confirmation that Daichi enjoyed his cooking. And the love he had put in it. Of course, Suga hadn’t made these onigiri but the thought remains the same.

“You know, the onigiri isn’t going anywhere,” Suga says as Daichi reaches for his fourth one. “Wouldn’t want you to get fat on me.”

“Are you saying that you wouldn’t want to kiss me and hold my hand if I was fat?” Daichi asks, giving Suga a sly smile and gearing to devour his next rice ball. “Because we don’t fat shame here.”

“What I’m saying is I don’t want Ennoshita and your doctor to blame me if they see your blood pressure spike.”

“Oh, I think I know of another way to get my blood pressure to spike.” Daichi leans forward, grabs Suga’s collar, and pulls him in for another kiss. 

Suga had been able to successfully come up with a convincing reason for why he still had his wedding ring on and why he was able to kiss Daichi and not have Daichi feel like he was the other man in the relationship. While he was spinning a web of lies that would impress even A herself, Suga had begun to wonder if he should be proud of how good he had become at lying to the one man he’s ever truly loved. But when he remembered why he had to lie and what he was protecting both of them from, he felt a little better. And when Daichi bought his story and let his contagious smile come back, Suga had no more doubts or hesitation that he had done the right thing.

“You know, usually I don’t like the taste of tuna in a kiss,” Suga says after he slowly pulls away from Daichi. “But for you, I’ll make an exception.”

“Oh, my bad,” Daichi says before covering his mouth and smelling his breath. “I guess the onigiri tastes better than it smells.” He takes a bite of his fourth and, because it’s up to Suga, last rice ball. He closes his mouth and smiles as he chews, reminding Suga of how he used to eat these when they would go to Michimiya and Osamu’s shop. “Huh.”

“What’s up, Daichi?” Suga asks as he takes a bite of his own onigiri. “Did you remember how the old Pokémon dub called these jelly doughnuts or something?”

“I didn’t remember that until now, so thanks for that,” Daichi says before furrowing his brow. “But, I remember these.”

“I’m sure your parents made you onigiri all the time when you were a kid,” Suga says before taking another bite.

“No, it’s not that. I remember these exact onigiri. Like the taste, the shape…” He pauses for a moment, the creases in his brow getting deeper and deeper. “Did you happen to get these at that shop on East 9th and 2nd? I think the owners' names were Miya or something...”

Suga almost chokes on his onigiri and has to pound on his collar to dislodge it. He can’t believe what he’s hearing. Daichi had never once mentioned names that he remembers before. And the fact that he had recalled both the address and names of their friends is amazing. Extraordinary, even. He can’t help but break out into a smile despite the fact that he almost landed himself in his own hospital bed with that throat rice ball fiasco.

“You okay there? I would have given you the Heimlich but I can’t really get out of my bed all that fast right now,” Daichi asks.

“I’m alright, just got excited,” Suga says before wiping his mouth.

“The rice balls are really good, but I’m not sure if I would go as far as to choke on them.”

“You’re funny, Daichi,” Suga says before placing the rest of his uneaten onigiri back in its wrapper. “I got excited because you were spot on about the restaurant. I got them from Onigiri Miya on East 9th and 2nd, like you said. So you were right about the address and the names of the owners.”

“That’s crazy!” Daichi says before looking at the rest of his rice ball with a huge smile. “I remember this. I remember their faces too!” He put his hand to his chin. “The man has like gray hair, not silver like yours, and the woman has short brown hair. Right?”

“Yes!” Suga says, jumping up from his chair. “I could kiss you right now!”

“What’s stopping you?” Daichi asks, extending his arms for Suga who gladly accepts them. “Thanks, Suga.”

“For what, Daichi? That was all you.”

“I don't know if it was. Because whenever you’re here with me, it’s like this fog around my brain begins to be blown away. I bet the longer I stay with you, the more I’ll remember.”

“You know, it might have been more because of the Miya’s world-famous onigiri, but I will gladly take you up on the offer.” Suga smiles before returning back to his spot at the edge of Daichi’s bed. “I’m so glad you’re starting to remember more things and people’s names and faces. Maybe I’ll bring you food from every restaurant we’ve ever gone to on a date before.”

If Suga had known before that just bringing Daichi some of his favorite foods from places they frequented would help him remember, that would have been the first thing he would have done. It would have been easier than concocting stories based on their lives with identifying information altered. Although, reliving those moments with Daichi, despite him not remembering them, had become an amazing escape for him.

“What do you mean ‘on a date before?’” Daichi asks, his brow furrowed and detective face on. “Are you saying we used to date?”

“Oh, I-” Suga starts before he is saved by the bell. And by bell, it is really the sound of three knocks at the door. “Come in,” Suga calls to the door, extremely grateful that he doesn’t need to come up with an escape plan again. 

“Suga, we’re not done with this-” Daichi says before he’s interrupted. 

“Hope I’m not interrupting anything,” Ennoshita says before he walks in with a wheelchair and his ever-present polite smile. He surveys the room and stops when he sees the Onigiri Miya bag, the uneaten onigiri, and the guilty look on both of their faces. Although he can’t possibly know the real reason they look guilty. “Although, it looks like I’ve interrupted lunch time.” He laughs before wheeling the chair to Suga. “I love Onigiri Miya. My wife and I get takeout from there all the time.”

“It’s a pretty great place. I’m best friends with the owners,” Suga says before getting up from Daichi’s bed and putting all the wrappers in the bag. ”You’re here for the PT session, right?”

“You got it, Suga,” Ennoshita says before he backs up from the chair and checks his pager. “If you want, you can push Daichi there.” He looks at Suga expectedly and then back at Daichi. “That is, if you’re still planning on joining us.”

“I don’t have a problem with it,” Suga says before looking back at Daichi. He hopes that Daichi doesn’t either. “Daichi?”

Daichi looks from Suga, to Ennoshita, and back to Suga. He lightly nods and says, “I don’t have a problem with it. Besides, on the way there, Suga and I can talk about what we were discussing before you came in, Ennoshita.”

Suga gulps as he thinks about how he’s going to spin his way out of this one. As he helps Daichi into the wheelchair, he can feel his gaze on him even if he isn’t looking directly at him. That same stare Daichi would give him whenever he had caught him in a lie before. And he’s not so sure about this whole PT session anymore. 

Suga smiles when Daichi gives him a thumbs up before putting his hands on the parallel bars. Suga had only seen physical therapy parallel bars in TV shows before and never once imagined he would have to watch someone use them in real life. Let alone that person being his husband. The man who could pick him up like he weighed less than nothing and could spin him around whenever the mood fit him. So to see Daichi struggle as he puts one foot in front of the other, his hands and arms trembling as they keep hold on the bars, is so unnatural to Suga. In fact, after he gives Daichi a warm smile back, Suga has to look away before he loses it.

But at the same time, as he watches Daichi take each small step, he also feels a warm feeling growing in his chest. It wasn't even two months before when he thought Daichi was going to die in front of him on that icy New York street. Or in the ambulance as first responders talked way too fast, spouting jargon Suga never thought he would hear in real life. Or in that operating room he wasn’t allowed in as he paced back in forth in the waiting room. But here he is, pushing through the pain as he follows Ennoshita’s encouraging words, very much alive. And Suga is so grateful for it and wouldn’t take this time for granted.

Suga feels his phone buzz in his pocket and for once, he actually decides to look at it. Before then, he always ignored his phone when he was at the hospital with Daichi. Because he had wanted to be one hundred and twenty percent there with him; the outside world didn’t matter. But Daichi is busy remembering how to walk and Suga feels like it might be alright to check his notifications. There isn’t anything he can really do for Daichi right then after all.

There is a voicemail from a telemarketer than Suga immediately deletes. A text message from the bar manager, Nishinoya, letting him know that he had submitted the latest order for the weekly shipment. A photo message from Suga and Daichi’s friend, Kageyama, of him and his family at the JFK airport. And a handful of text messages from all of his siblings asking how Daichi had been doing. 

When Daichi had first been hospitalized, Taro and Jiro had been able to fly out to keep Suga company while he waited for any news. And when Suga refused to do anything besides leave Daichi’s bedside, they were the ones who brought Suga his meals and change of clothes. And when they had to go back home, Suga cried so hard that they actually called him Koushi for once. 

Suga goes to message them back and send them a pic of Daichi with the parallel bars so they can know how well he’s been doing.

“Koushi-”

Suga hears his name being called from the bars, in that familiar voice. And he thinks back to only ten minutes before when he was wheeling Daichi to the PT room.

“So, you’re saying that we used to date a long time ago?” Daichi asks as Suga pushes the button for the elevator. 

After the two of them had followed Ennoshita out of Daichi’s room, Ennoshita had to take a page because of “interns” or something. But told Suga that Daichi knew the way, leaving the two of them alone again. Something Suga had not been planning on. And the elevator couldn’t come quickly enough.

“That’s my story and I’m sticking to it,” Suga says with a huff as he taps his foot on the back of the wheelchair. Where could that elevator be?

“You do realize when you say that, it totally sounds like you’re lying to me,” Daichi replies with a flat face.

“Oh,” Suga nervously laughs and rubs the back of his head, trying to look away from Daichi. The lights above the elevator are a good anchoring point although he knows he can’t ignore it for much longer. “Well, I’m not lying. We totally used to date a long time ago.” And Suga realizes that he actually isn’t lying. Not technically.

“Then I believe you,” Daichi says as he places his hand on Suga’s. “And either way, you’re here with me and that’s all that matters to me.” Daichi looks ahead as the elevator doors open and two disgruntled interns brush past them. “Of course, if I do get all my memories back and find out you lied to me,” he smirks. “I won’t be kissing you for at least ten minutes.”

Suga lets out a breath he hadn’t realized he had been holding and chuckles. Something in the way Daichi was able to turn what could have been a stressful topic into somewhat of a joke makes Suga feel at ease. Like all his lies and stories actually aren’t the worst thing in the world. As long as they brought the two of them together again.

“Well, given that we used to date,” Daichi starts again as they watch the numbers on the elevator floor change. “Did I ever call you Koushi?”

“As in my first name?” Suga asks, not expecting that kind of question. He smiles, unseen to Daichi, as he tries to count all the years Daichi had called him Koushi. And, in the end, it had only been a month he hadn't called Koushi. “Yeah, you did. You honestly didn’t call me Suga all that much when we were dating.” 

Of course, Suga also wants that. It’s just one step closer to having his husband back, even if his memories don’t return. Although he will never stop hoping.

“Koushi,” Daichi tries out his name in his mouth. “I love the way it feels to say it.”

“I love the way you say my name. You can use it instead of Suga, if you want.”

“I don’t think I will,” Daichi says, resolutely as the elevator stops. And before Suga can ask why, Daichi continues. “I want to call you Koushi when we can go on a real date. And we can have our first real kiss and our first meal out of this hospital.” He laughs as Suga pushes him down the hall. “I love Grey’s Anatomy as much as the next guy, but hospitals are not romantic.”

“I can agree with you on that,” Suga replies. He’s a little disappointed that Daichi won’t be using his first name, that leap into that level of intimacy. But like he would inevitably see Daichi take during his session, they need to take baby steps. “But okay, you can call me Koushi when you get out of here and not a moment before.” 

He looks through the glass where Ennoshita is busy setting up the parallel bars. He looks up to the two of them and ushers them in with a smile.

“You know, unless you happen to magically remember everything while you’re walking with your own two feet. Then you call me Koushi.”

“Deal.”

“Koushi…”

The second call of his name from Daichi’s voice brings Suga back to reality. He isn’t pushing Daichi in his wheelchair, and he isn’t at Griffith Observatory on that wonderful date. Instead, he’s sitting there on that uncomfortable chair, his phone in his hand, and watching as tears fall from Daichi’s eyes. Tears fall as Daichi struggles to keep his grip on the bar, his eyes never once leaving Suga’s.

“Daichi,” Suga says, understanding what is happening. Daichi had finally come back to him. In that PT room, his hands on the parallel bars, and their eyes locking like they had never once been apart. The simple six letter, two syllable name that Daichi had uttered so easily, had opened up that final door that Suga’s hope had tried to for so long. “You’re back.” 

“Koushi, I-” 

And as Suga loses grip of his phone, he watches Daichi fall to the floor. The phone falls with a sharp thud that he isn’t sure came from it or from Daichi’s head as they hit the floor at the same time. And then comes the vibration of the phone as someone, anyone, tries to call Suga but instead, his focus is on the vibration coming from Daichi. That horrible familiar vibration, that shaking of Daichi’s whole body on the floor. His eyes rolling back as his mouth shuts entirely, as such a small but horribly noticeable amount of foam grows.

And Suga stays frozen as he watches it all unfold. Again.

“Nurses, page a doctor!” Ennoshita probably says as he rushes to move the parallel bars away and get Daichi on his side. “And get Mr. Sugawara out of here!”

Everything Suga had done in the past few weeks. His stories, his gifts, his time. He had been so careful not to tread too close to that line. That line he had once crossed. He had given up so much to protect Daichi. And for what? When it still happened. Again.

“Daichi!” Suga screams, his muscles finally springing into action. “Oh my God, Daichi!”

“Mr. Sugawara, please come with us,” a voice comes from his side.

But he doesn’t really hear it. Or really care. All his body wants to do, what it needs to do is be next to Daichi as he lays there, writhing. Unable to speak.

“I need to stay with my husband!” He screams as the two nurses pull him away from Daichi. He tries to fight back, his tears burning his eyes and his whole body shaking. “Daichi needs me!” 

But his cries land on deaf ears. 

And in a matter of moments, all Suga can see is the love of his life going through the same thing he had caused again. And all he can think is whether or not he had kissed Daichi for the last time in that hospital room. Whether or not he had spoken to Daichi for the last time in that hallway. Whether or not the last time he had seen his eyes open was right before he had said his name. And if he would ever let anyone call him Koushi again.

Because if Daichi can’t call him Koushi, he doesn’t know if anyone else ever could.

Suga can now see that string Daichi had once told him about so many years ago. That beautiful string that had tied the two of them together. That string that he can now see becoming frayed at the ends, and weakening in the middle. 

That invisible string.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THIS IS YOUR FINAL REMINDER TO READ THE FIRST ENTRY IN THIS SERIES "Seven" because the next chapter will introduce Kageyama and Hinata from that fic! 
> 
> Also... sorry for the cliffhanger heehee
> 
> Leave me your comments if you want to yell at me :)

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks so much for reading the first chapter of this fic! If you're so inclined, feel free to leave a comment or find me on Twitter at @VionicBonds
> 
> :))))


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